Ceylon Tobacco Company announced that it will be closing its leaf depots in Anuradhapura and Sigiriya. In December 2016 the company announced that it was considering the closure of four leaf depots, due to the sharp drop in demand for tobacco leaf as a result of declining volumes. In the first phase CTC will wind down operations in Anuradhapura and Sigiriya starting with the closure of the two leaf depots. Shutting down the two depots is estimated to impact the livelihoods of around 2,000 persons depending on tobacco farming, who stand to lose close to LKR 200 million in annual income. The increase in retail price of cigarettes and the resultant decline in volumes has jeopardized the sustainability of a business that has been legally operating in Sri Lanka for over a hundred years. This could spell disaster to the livelihoods supported across the company's value chain. Currently CTC directly and indirectly employs over 46,000 persons and supports around 300,000 livelihoods at various stages of operations from farming tobacco to the distribution and sale of its products.