Japan Tobacco International shipments of Camel cigarettes increased 26.8 per cent to 13.5 billion sticks in the third quarter but volume of the highly touted Mevius brand declined as Asian customers shifted to lower priced products, JTI said.

Overall volume at the international arm of Japan Tobacco fell 3.6 per cent to 106 billion cigarette equivalent units mostly due to a contracting Russian market, the company said. Fine-cut volume rose 5.7 per cent, driven by a 19.2 per cent increase in what JTI calls its global flagship brands. Camel cigarette growth in the three months to 30 Sept was strongest in the Benelux countries, Spain and Turkey.
Shipment volume of Mevius, the brand JTI hopes will challenge Philip Morris’s world leader Marlboro, declined 4.3 per cent to 4.7 billion units as increases in Korea and Malaysia did not offset ongoing decline in Taiwan.
Japan Tobacco released data showing April-September domestic shipping volume fell 10.2 per cent to 53.5 billion sticks. Mevius continued to increase its share of the domestic market. Adjusted domestic operating profit for JT's tobacco business declined 7.4 per cent to JPY 121.5 billion (EUR 882 million).
JTI third quarter adjusted operating profit increased 4.8 per cent to USD 1.3 billion on nearly unchanged sales of USD 3.2 billion.