Bulgaria will subsidise the production of 45,867 tons of tobacco in '06 versus 69,017 tons a year earlier. Data of the Tobacco Fund, the state-owned authority that promotes domestic tobacco production, shows that tobacco traders will purchase 20% less tobacco in '06 than they did a year ago. The 33% decrease in subsidized production will have a positive effect for the cigarettes-producing subsidiaries of Bulgartabac Holding. Being still state-owned, these companies are bound to acquire the whole subsidized quantity, thus piling huge tobacco stocks, part of which are later written down.