Cargoes of Turkish tobacco stuck at customs

Tobacco enterprises in St. Petersburg found themselves hostage to the Russian-Turkish conflict. According to the Kommersant newspaper , several JTI trucks with oriental tobacco leaves from Turkey for the Petro factory cannot pass through customs posts.

Industrial stocks will help the latter last for several months, but ultimately the shortage of oriental tobacco could lead to the suspension of the production of certain brands of cigarettes, experts say. As Maxim Meiksin, chairman of the industrial policy committee, told the publication, at the moment the committee has no information about the passage of tobacco through customs posts.

Company representatives confirmed the fact that tobacco was stopped at customs posts. They added that other tobacco factories may also face “some difficulties” with supplies. In total, according to JTI, Turkey accounts for 5-7% of the raw materials used in Russia in the production of cigarettes. But, as another tobacco company explained to the publication, oriental tobacco is used in the American Blend. Although its share in the mixture is small, the mixture itself is used in the vast majority of cigarettes produced - up to 90% of all production, and it is impossible to create it without oriental tobacco.

The press service of Philip Morris Izhora CJSC refused to comment on the delay of competitors’ tobacco at customs posts. However, the newspaper’s interlocutor at the company said that “there is movement on this issue,” so there is no point in making the situation public.

Director of Corporate Relations at BAT Russia (a subsidiary of British American Tobacco), Alexander Lyuty, fears that other Russian manufacturers may also experience problems with the supply of raw materials. “Difficulties with the supply of Turkish raw materials to Russia pose a threat to the sustainable operation of the entire Russian tobacco industry - it will take a lot of time to find new suppliers of oriental varieties of tobacco and not lose quality,” the newspaper quotes A. Lyuty.

Problems with the passage of Turkish goods at the Russian border arose on the 20th of November. According to importers and customs brokers, cargo began to be sent for full inspection or not allowed through at all. Earlier, RBC Petersburg wrote about the problems that arose at the branch of Toyota Motor LLC in St. Petersburg, OJSC Power Machines and LLC BSH Household Appliances (the joint venture of Bosch and Siemens was even forced to stop production). At the same time, components for household appliances are not included in the list of sanctioned products from Turkey, approved by government decree.

After this, the St. Petersburg authorities turned to the Federal Customs Service with a request to unblock the import of components from Turkey for the city’s engineering enterprises. In response to the letter from the vice-governor, the Federal Customs Service promised to release the goods.

Representative of the association of trading companies and manufacturers of electrical and computer equipment RATEK Anton Guskov told RBC that almost all companies producing household appliances in Russia faced the problem of supplying components from Turkey.

St. Petersburg faces a shortage of cigarettes