The year starts with more oil and coffee - Reasons/ Why are imports of excise goods increasing significantly?
2025 has begun with a significant increase in fuel consumption, but also other excise goods.
During January, 53.2 thousand tons of fuel were imported and consequently consumed by Albanian citizens and tourists. Compared to January 2024, imports of this product exceeded 7.2 thousand tons more.
The increase in fuel consumption, as one of the main products that affects the economic chain of goods and services, signals increased domestic demand and economic growth.
It also signals the start of a good tourist year and more spending by Albanian citizens. One of the reasons is the drop in the price of oil on the market, which is currently traded at an average price of 175 lek per liter, which makes citizens move more during the weekends and take advantage of short-term vacations. Also, the extension of the tourist season throughout the year, where we do not only have tourists interested in coastal areas, but also in visiting tourist cities in the country, and a good part of them come with personal vehicles or rent cars, has led to a significant increase in consumption.
There has also been a significant increase in beer imports, as it seems that accommodation structures are getting ready to welcome more tourists. In January 2025, 3256 tons of beer were imported, up from 2400 tons imported in January 2024.
But in addition to the role that tourism plays in the import of this product, the purchase of significant quantities from abroad has also been favored by the unification of excise duty for domestic production, which has brought a disadvantage to factories operating in Albania, which are facing high costs and numerous difficulties, but on the other hand has created more ground for importers.
Coffee imports have also been increasing, with 723 tons imported in the first month of the year, doubling the quantity compared to January 2024.
Meanwhile, cigarette imports have had a slight but insignificant decrease compared to January 2024, where a total of 209 tons were imported.
Excise revenue for January of this year was recorded at 4.9 billion lek, marking an increase of 13.2% compared to the same period a year earlier.
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