Régie invests over $7 million for fourth production line

Régie Libanaise des Tabacs et Tombacs (Régie), the State-owned tobacco monopoly, will add a fourth production line in 2017, increasing production by 50 percent. Investment in the expansion is $7.5 million. The line will be dedicated to the production of four new types of local cigarettes.

Production rates this year have already reached 400,000 boxes (500 packs per box), an increase of around 75 percent compared to 2015.

Nassif Seklawi, Director General of Régie, said that sales increased 11 percent to reach $675 million, and profits by five percent during this year. Smuggling dropped around eight percent.

Seklawi said: “We expect ten percent growth next year.”

Régie has signed an agreement with the UK-based Imperial Tobacco Company to produce international brands ‘Gitanes’, ‘Gauloises’, and ‘West’ in Régie’s facilities. An estimated $7 million has been invested in a new production line, which is expected to be operational by February.