China - No Longer the Sleeping Giant

摘要

China is the engine of global cigarette volume growth because of its population and its smoking culture. Can anything halt the progress of the juggernaut and when is the Chinese tobacco industry going to leverage its vast domestic size into a commensurate global position in the world market. According to statistics from Euro-monitor International, between 2005 and 2010, retail sales of cigarettes in China grew by 22.7 per cent. This was despite a small fall in prevalence and was driven by the risingsmoking population. The bottom line is that the Chinese tobacco juggernaut continues to roll, seemingly inexorably onwards. Our estimate of 2009-10 volume growth in retail sales of cigarettes was 3.9 per cent which means 87 bn sticks more - that is likeadding a market the size of Brazil to the global cigarettes market in one year.