Japan Tobacco International (JTI) shipped nearly 20 billion fewer cigarettes last year, a 4.7 per cent decline to 398 billion sticks that the company said mostly was due to contraction in the Russian market.

Domestically, parent company Japan Tobacco (JT) reported a 3.6 per cent drop in volume to 112.4 billion sticks, citing the general industry volume decline of 3.4 per cent in 2014 and marketing costs to retain customers after excise tax was raised in April.
Fluctuations in foreign exchange rates cut into profit both at JTI and JT. JTI adjusted operated profit rose 1.1 per cent to USD 4.25 billion (EUR 3.71 billion, a measure that at constant forex rates would have risen 13.1 per cent. JTI revenue fell 3 per cent to USD 11.9 billion. Adjusted operating profit at JT’s tobacco business rose 1.8 per cent to JPY 234.6 billion (EUR 1.74 billion) on sales that dipped 1 per cent to JPY 656.3 billion.
JTI global flagship brands (GFB) volume, including Winston, Camel, Mevius, LD and Benson & Hedges, dipped 2 per cent to 262.2 billion units. GFB fine-cut volume rose by nearly one third. GFB shipments represented nearly 66 per cent of total volume.