Smoke signals from leading cigarette producers

Imperial Tobacco, one of the largest cigarettes producer in the world, is closing its plants in the south of Europe and moving them to Poland and Germany. "The larger share of our production designated for the EU market has been moved to our plants in Berlin and Langenhagen, while the smaller part to Poland," said Alex Parsons, spokesman of Imperial Tobacco. The management of the Polish subsidiary refused to comment on the issue, as they claim that Poland might still receive either the larger or smaller share of the production. The company currently has a 19% share of the Polish market, and it placed over 14 billion cigarettes on the market last year. It is worth mentioning that two other tobacco producers, Gallaher and BAT, have also moved part of their production to Poland. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) M.M.