(ANSA) - BELGRADE, 01 GIU - After Germany, Poland ranked second and Romania third in the European Union for the production of cigarettes in 2016, Eurostat said on May 31st.

According to Eurostat, in 2016 Germany was the top producer in the EU with almost 168 billion cigarettes manufactured (32% of EU total), followed by Poland (99 billion cigarettes produced, 19% of the EU total) and Romania (77 billion, 15%).

Bulgaria also ranked among the biggest producers, with 21 billion cigarettes (around 5% of the EU total). Serbia, which is still not part of the EU, produced more than 34 billion cigarettes in 2016.

Eurostat noted that in 2016 over 527 billion cigarettes were produced in the European Union, almost 300 billion fewer compared with the production recorded in 2006. However, no drop in the cigarettes production was registered in Romania and Bulgaria, where - on the contrary - the production has increased in the last decade. According to available data, the production in Bulgaria increased from 17.3 billion cigarettes in 2006 to 21 billion in 2016, in Romania from 31.8 billion in 2006 to 76.7 billion in 2016. A limited drop was, however, registered in Poland (from 106 billion in 2006 to 99 billion in 2016), a more significant one in Croatia (from 14 billion to 7). (ANSA).