Japan Tobacco announced domestic cigarette sales volume rose 10.4 per cent in December to 10.7 billion sticks. Nine-month volume at 80.8 billion cigarettes was 24.3 per cent below the year-ago period.

The data continue to reflect the impact of higher cigarette excise taxes from October of 2010 that, for example, caused volume in December of 2010 to plummet nearly 31 per cent. The data also reflect the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan last March, just prior to the start of the current fiscal year, disrupting production and distribution.
Net sales gained 9.8 per cent to JPY 59.2 billion (EUR 598 million) in December and were 4 per cent below the prior-year period at JPY444.6 billion in the nine months from April through December. Market share was 53.6 per cent in the nine-month period.