Philip Morris’ Russian subsidiaries made nearly 92 billion cigarettes in 2006, reports Rustabak trade news agency.

According to the statistics recently released by the company, the greater part of the overall output, 62 million sticks, were made by PM Izhora plant that posted a 4 per cent increase year-on-year. The Krasnodar-based PM Kuban facility repeated the previous year’s performance and manufactured nearly 30 billion cigarettes. Apart from domestic sales, PM exports a minor part of the products made by its Russian plants to Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Moldova. In Russia, PM increased its sales volume by over 5 per cent, due to the strong position of its flagship brands, Marlboro, Muratti Ambassador, Parliament and Chesterfield, above all. According to the market research group Business Analytica, PM now holds a 27 per cent market share and is retaining its leadership in the premium and middle price segments, 41.1 and 45 per cent correspondingly.
(vt)