Tobacco sales up, as Sejm works on excise duty reforms

In July tobacco concerns sold almost 7 billion cigarettes, which is the best result since the start of the year. In the first quarter of 2003, sales reached a mere 6 billion units, but the situation kept on improving from then on. Since the beginning of the year, sales have amounted to 42.19 billion cigarettes, which means a drop of 2.2% in comparison to the same period in 2002. A growth in sales has been recorded by Reemtsma, Scand inavian Tobacco and Philip Morris. The remaining companies saw their sales drastically shrink, with the largest decrease recorded by ZT Lublin and the Merkury Group. "The market is stabilizing and sales usually grow during the holiday period," said Jerzy Skiba from Domestic Association of Tobacco Industry. In September, the Sejm will work on changes to the law, regarding excise duty on cigarettes, meaning an increase in prices and a drop in legal sales. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8) M.M.