Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In January-March 2024, imports of labeled tobacco products in Uzbekistan reached 19.9 million units, which is 8 times more than the same period of last year, when this figure was 2.6 million.

Analysts from CRPT TURON LLC, operator of the national digital labeling system Asl Belgisi, analyzed the structure of supply on the tobacco market in the first quarter of this year.

The majority of imports were heated tobacco (sticks), which accounted for 48% of the total supply. This is followed by filter cigarettes (39.7%), cigarillos (7%), hookah tobacco (2.8%) and electronic cigarettes (1.8%).

Despite a significant increase in imports, the main supply comes from domestic production (87%). The production of tobacco products in Uzbekistan in January-March 2024 increased by 43%, reaching more than 132 million standard packages compared to 92.6 million in the same period last year. This is due to a decrease in the share of illegal production after the introduction of mandatory labeling. 

As Tax Committee specialist Akhmadbek Fayziev noted, bona fide businesses occupy niches vacated after the departure of illegal producers, which allows them to increase production volumes.

According to the Operator, more than 90% of sales of tobacco products in Uzbekistan are filter cigarettes. The next most popular are sticks (6%) and nicotine snus (2%).

Mandatory labeling of cigarettes in Uzbekistan was introduced on 1 January 2021, and from 1 October 2022, it extended to all types of tobacco products. The introduction of labeling is due to the high level of counterfeit products on the market. According to British American Tobacco Uzbekistan, about 15.7% of cigarettes sold in the country are of illegal origin.