Cigarette sales up, with smaller companies making the greatest gains

In the first half of 2002 cigarette producers sold 36.16 billion cigarettes. This is a slight increase of around one billion in comparison to the same period last year. The smallest players gained, while the biggest suffered losses. The sales of Krakow based Merkury were down 9.9%, while sales of top producers, Philip Morris dropped by 6.22% and Reemtsma by 2.25%. Meanwhile the best results were recorded by Zaklady Tytoniowe in Lublin, whose sales rose by over 40%, House of Prince, up 18.37% and Altadis, not tailing far behind with a 17.35% increase. "There are reasons to be happy. The legal market has gained sales of a little over one billion cigarettes and this is a sign for the future," said Jaroslaw Szlendak, the House of Prince president. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) P.W.