JTI posts growth in business and plans to increase exports

“We had a very good year, profitability was up, we reinvested a lot because our plans include constant growth, and we added new brands to our portfolio following the acquisition of [cigarette producer] Gallaher, JTI Romania’s General Manager, Martin Southgate, told Business Standard.

For 2008, the company plans to increase its exports. “Last year, exports made up some 7 percent of total production. For 2008, we plan to increase [external] deliveries to 14 percent of our output,” Southgate said.

JTI and Gallaher merged internationally in 2007, which also led to a merger of their local subsidiaries. Together with Gallaher, JTI sold 7.5 billion cigarettes last year. Separately, it sold 7.13 billion cigarettes, compared to 6.6 billion units in 2006.

The local cigarette market, including the black market, is worth some €2.5 bln, according to Southgate.

Main local producers are British American Tobacco (BAT), with a 40.4 percent market share, JTI and Gallaher, with a combined share of 28.7 percent, and Philip Morris, with 27.6 percent of the market.