Japan Tobacco has said it may raise the price of domestic cigarettes to account for high raw materials costs

In an interview with The Nikkei on 9 May, Japan Tobacco CEO Hiroshi Kimura commented on a potential domestic price increase. According to Kimura, recent cost increases made it necessary to increase prices in the domestic market.
The company will first try to reduce their costs and shift customers to higher-priced, value-added products, spokeswoman Yukiko Seto is qoted as saying by Reuters. Only after these measures were implemented a price increase would be considered.
The price increase is expected by analysts to be minimal.  A slight rise of only JPY 10 a pack could have an impact of roughly JPY 8 billion (EUR 50 million).
Japan Tobacco has a market share of 64.9 per cent in its home country. However, the market itself continues to shrink: The ratio of Japanese adults who smoke has slipped to 26 per cent from 34 percent a decade ago and a peak of 49 per cent in 1966. (pi)