Hama cigarette factory faces challenges over salaries, staff attrition

The state-owned cigarette factory in the city of Hama, affiliated with the General Tobacco Establishment, is facing a worsening crisis that threatens its ability to continue operating. Workers’ salaries have gone unpaid for months, while a series of resignations has affected technical and administrative staff with many years of experience. This has led to a decline in the number of employees and the shutdown of production lines, according to information gathered by ANHA agency’s correspondents in Hama.

The factory produces several locally manufactured cigarette brands, most notably Al-Hamra, Al-Sharq, and Al-Ibla, and previously also produced the Luadisa brand.

The number of workers at the factory has fallen from around 120 to approximately 40, while another group is preparing to submit their resignations in the coming period. This leaves the factory facing a severe labor shortage, particularly in technical fields related to the operation and maintenance of production lines.

Workers’ accounts indicate that salary delays reached more than five months during some periods, prompting a number of experienced employees including workers who had spent more than 25 years at the factory to resign and seek alternative sources of income, amid the difficulty of continuing without regular wage payments.

The factory, located in the Al-Andalus area of Hama, is significant because it has an Italian-made production line manufactured by G.D., in addition to packaging equipment and a Socaturo machine used to process unfinished products.

According to previous data issued by the factory, its cigarette production line has a capacity of around 8,000 cigarettes per minute, while its output reached approximately three tons per day during one period.

Declining incentives and loss of workers

According to workers’ accounts, the current problem is not limited to delayed salaries. Production-linked incentives have also declined, along with in-kind benefits that included clothing, monthly bonuses, and other forms of incentives that had previously helped retain technical staff at the factory.

Workers say the continuation of the current situation has resulted in the loss of a significant portion of the accumulated expertise, coinciding with the termination of contracts for a number of temporary workers. This makes it more difficult to restart the production lines efficiently, even if funding and raw materials become available.

The loss of these staff members is particularly concerning because operating and maintaining cigarette manufacturing lines depends on specialized technical expertise that is difficult to replace quickly. This is especially significant given that the factory has relatively modern production equipment compared with a number of other industrial facilities in the governorate.

Government move to reactivate the tobacco establishment

The crisis at the Hama factory comes as the Syrian transitional government has announced plans to redevelop the tobacco sector and increase its production capacity. Last March, Basil Abdel-Hannan, Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry for Industry and Foreign Trade, said the ministry was considering plans to develop the operations of the General Tobacco Establishment and increase its operating capacity, either through investment or by placing the sector under private-sector management.

In March 2026, the General Tobacco Establishment also announced plans to launch new production lines and rehabilitate others in preparation for resuming production, while noting that traditional cigarette varieties would continue to be produced to meet domestic market needs. It said the establishment was working to rehabilitate some production lines in preparation for resuming operations.

The establishment had announced in February its agricultural plan for the 2026 season, which targets the cultivation of approximately 11,000 hectares of tobacco across several governorates, including Hama. This reflects the government’s continued reliance on the sector as a production chain extending from cultivation to manufacturing and marketing.

In this context, the continued shutdown of the Hama factory and the depletion of its workforce are at odds with the declared policy of expanding the establishment’s operating capacity. Restarting the production lines requires not only rehabilitating machinery and securing raw materials, but also retaining the technical expertise capable of operating and maintaining them.

No official clarification on the salary crisis

There has been no official clarification regarding the reasons for the delayed salaries of workers at the Hama Cigarette Factory, the size of the outstanding payments, or any specific plan to address the resignations and staff shortages.

ANHA