Excise taxes increase BAT business by up to €822 mln

The growth in business was due to higher cigarette prices, higher excise taxes, and an increase in sales, the company’s Corporate & Regulatory Affairs Manager, Adrian Popa, told Business Standard.

BAT sold 13.58 billion cigarettes in 2007, some 12 percent higher year-on-year.
The local cigarette market, including the black market, is worth some €2.5 bln, according to producers. Main players are BAT, with a 40.4 percent market share in terms of volume, followed by JT International (JTI) with 29.1 percent, and Philip Morris International (PMI), with 27.3 percent of the market, according to the Nielsen market research company.