Iravaban.net talked to Monika Artenyan, senior specialist of the Market Analysis Department of the competition Protection Commission (CPC), about the topic.

According to her, two product markets have been separated: the cigarette product market and the Electronic Cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products market.

“The separation of product markets was determined by several circumstances: cigarettes, in contrast to electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products, involve the burning of raw tobacco and the raw tobacco or e-liquid of heated and electronic cigarettes is subjected to heating. This is the main difference that the Commission took into account when defining the product markets.

She mentioned that the recommendations and identified problems mainly refer to the legislative field.

Speaking about the structural and legislative changes that formed the basis for the study, Artenyan noted that as a result of the legislative changes, certain restrictions were applied regarding the sale and display of tobacco products, which was studied by the Commission. “Structural changes have also been recorded, here we are talking about the higher number of liquidity of some products, more specifically, electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products have begun to be sold more on the market than traditional cigarettes. It shows both the analysis of global trends and the analysis of the Armenian market situation.”

The market analysis specialist added that in the field of cigarette production, Armenia is a self-sufficient country and mainly exports cigarettes, while imports are carried out only in the case of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products.

Details in the video.