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MARCH 2016 TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL 33 T oday, factories in Iran produce cigarettes for three multinationals: Japan Tobacco Incorporated (JTI) produces the popular Winston; BAT produces Kent; and Korean Tobacco and Ginseng produces Pine and Esse. Before these three multinationals gained impor- tance in Iran as manufacturers, domestic cigarettes accounted for only about 40 percent of the total cigarette purchases by smokers. Gradually, in the new order, the share for imports in total cigarette sales declined and the profits for the Iranian Tobacco Company (ITC) increased. ITC is a large state owned outfit. Arrangements to allow foreign manu- facturers to construct cigarette facto- ries to produce their special brands under license for sale and distribution by the Iranian Tobacco Company faced some opposition in the beginning. The Ministry of Health and Hygiene in Tehran opposed early plans for health r e a s o n s . M a n a g e r s o f t h e I r a n i a n Tobacco Company argued successfully that plans to build factories by multina- tionals were a better deal for Iran than was the flow of smuggled and counter- feit cigarettes moving from UAE to Iran in thousands of small boats. They em- phasized the advantages that tobacco manufacturing jobs created, as well as the resulting influx of government rev- enues. Consideration of the various fi- nancial and economic advantages helped the IRC to win its argument. The extra employment created by the new cigarette factories helped to whittle down the worrisome unemployment level near Tehran. Iran has long been concerned over unemployment and reports indicate that unemployment was in the range of 13 percent as far back as 2009. Iran's jobless rate declined after 1979 because of the Tobacco is not the only industry involved in these economic efforts: Production of certain other items (under license in Iran by a foreign manufacturer) was also pop- ular for use in farm tractors assembled by East European firms. The surge for Iranian exports of farm products to Iraq in 2010 and the continued business afterwards ap- parently helped to reduce unemployment in rural areas as well. Iran exported near- ly 400,000 tons of fresh apples to Iraq in 2010, compared with about 80,000 tons in 2009. Apple exports to Iraq were at a lower level from 2011-13, but shipments of cheese, pastry, peaches, edible beans and lentils were substantial. Cigarette imports reported for Iran by FAO declined from 27B for $285M in 2004 to 6B for $96.7M in 2010. And then declined again to 5.3B for $84.4M by 2011. The exact count for South Korean cigarettes moving through Jebel Ali duty free port in Dubai to Iran is difficult to get, buy FAO estimates indicate a down- ward trend in the business. New factories operated by multi- nationals were able to import smoking tobacco in bulk with a special blend pre- pared ready for cigarette machines. The blend was just the mixture for the select- ed brand. Data from FAO for imports of smoking tobacco give a clue for the blended tobacco imported for use in special brands. Iran reported imports of 11,720 tons leaf tobacco valued at $80M in 2011, compared with 12,866 tons of leaf for $77.4M a year earlier in 2010. Imports of leaf tobacco by Iran in- creased as the new factories expanded op- erations. Flue cured tobacco from Brazil increased to over 5,000 tons in some years. Imports of tobacco from India increased as more blending of flue cured occurred with semi-Oriental tobacco from Iranian farms. Production of tobacco in Iran averaged about 25,000 tons annually during 2000, then advanced about a tenth by 2007. During the 1990s Iran exported about 1,000 tons of leaf tobacco to Russia in some years. The total imports of unmanu- factured tobacco and smoking tobacco into Iran may be in the range of 31,000 tons in 2016.