National Tobacco Sales Nonprofit Ltd. has put out a new tender for tobacconists who were not granted a concession in a recent bid, Minister of State for National Development at the Ministry of National Development János Fónagy announced on Tuesday.

According to the new tender, tobacconists who submitted a proposal, but did not win any concessions in the previous tender now have the opportunity to resubmit their application. National Tobacco Sales Nonprofit Ltd. is awaiting applications from individuals, who fulfil more than one condition set in the call for proposals.

The announcement by Minister of State Fónagy was made following Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stating in a radio interview on May 3 that it is not acceptable for people, who have been operating tobacconist shops full-time for years to lose their livelihoods.

State-owned tobacconist shops were created to face the problem of 35 thousand people in Hungary dying as a result of smoking annually, and 27% of smokers being youngsters, making the issue even more serious. The Government's intention is to reduce the number of shops that stock tobacco products from 44,000 to 5,000. A 10% profit margin has also been set, which is a common practice throughout Europe. In Italy and France the profit margin is also 10%, in Spain 8.5%, while in Austria the number reaches 13%.

(Ministry for National Economy)