July 20 (SeeNews) - Japan Tobacco International Tobacco (JTI) said on Monday it posted a 543 million lei ($128 million/112 million euro) net profit in 2019, up 13.5% on the year.
JTI Romania's turnover rose by 12.5% to 5.4 billion lei in 2019, the company said in a press release.
Some 78% of total turnover for 2019 represented transfers to the state in the form of excise duties, VAT and other taxes. Taxes paid to the state budget increased by an annual 27%.
"2019 was a good year because there were no unexpected changes in the framework regulation, and the excise schedule was met, being adjusted only to respond the express requirements of the European Tobacco Products Directive. Thanks to this predictable and stable legislative and fiscal context, but also to the sustained anti-smuggling actions actions of law enforcement authorities, the average level of the black market last year was below 14%," JTI general manager for Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria Evgeny Nikolsky said.
"During the pandemic, we did not send home or in technical unemployment any of the 1,200 people working in the country. We paid our taxes, our salaries, we protected our people and we kept working. In the hope that fiscal policy and the regulatory framework will remain
stable and predictable, and the legal market will not be disturbed, we want to keep investing in Romania, to be a top employer and a reliable partner for the authorities."
JTI started operations in Romania in 1993. About 70% of the production of the factory in Bucharest is exported.
Romania is the third largest European producer of cigarettes, and the total value of raw and processed tobacco exports was 948.4 million euro ($1.08 billion) in 2019. Thus, tobacco sales had a positive contribution to Romania's budget of almost 600 million euro, the company said.
A member of the Japan Tobacco group, JTI is one of the world's largest manufacturers of tobacco and vaping products, with operations in over 130 countries. Geneva, Switzerland-based JTI has over 44,000 employees.
(1 euro=4.8427 lei)