Jan. customs revenues up 12.2% y-o-y

TIRANA, Feb. 7 – The customs administration continued its good performance even during the beginning of this year collecting 7.89 billion lek (78 million dollars) in January 2011, up 12.2 percent year-on-year, also thanks to increased excise taxes on tobacco.
Customs data show fuel imports were the only ones to register a decline in January considering the soaring prices in international markets. Despite the tobacco excise increasing to 70 lek per packet, customs officials said they handled 342 tonnes of tobacco last January compared to 204 tonnes in January 2010.
Meanwhile, fuel imports slightly dropped to 27,478 tonnes, down from 27,611 in January 2010.
Meanwhile, Albanian exports continued performing well raising both in volume and value. Customs data show exports more than doubled to 7.8 billion lek, up from 3.4 billion lek in January 2010.
The customs administration collected a record 121.28 billion lek ( around 1.2 billion US dollars) in 2010, up 14.37 billion lek or 13.4 percent compared to 2009 registering the highest increase in the past three years, authorities said in a statement. The collection rate is almost the same to what authorities expected for 2010, fulfilling 99 percent of the target of 122.59 billion lek.
Data show the customs administration managed to collect an additional 1.39 billion lek or 12.8 percent more in December 2010 year-on-year.
Meanwhile, re-exports, goods brought to Albania to be processed and then exported again mainly dominated by the textile and footwear industry, more than doubled during 2010. Data show the volume of re-exports increased by 159.5 percent compared to 2009 when the footwear and garment industry suffered a crisis because falling demand in international markets. Their value also increased to 85.4 billion lek, up 30.8 percent compared to 2009.
INSTAT data show the textile and footwear industry was the main exporter in 2010 with 55.6 billion lek followed by “minerals, fuel and electricity” with 45 billion lek