Philip Morris International (PMI) sales volume fell 21 per cent and market share by nearly 14 percentage points in the first nine months of 2013 due to higher excise taxes, ABS-CBN News reported.

PMI, which combined Philippines business operations in a company called PFTC in 2010, said its market share fell to 77.2 per cent in the nine months to 30 Sept from 90.8 per cent in the previous year, ABS-CBN said. Premium brand Marlboro’s market share fell to 15.3 per cent, a drop of nearly 6 percentage points. Low-priced Fortune plummeted 22.6 points to 27.5 per cent, according to the news agency.
PMI said the drops “primarily” were due to the Sin Tax Reform Act, which hiked taxes on tobacco and alcohol products from 1 Jan, ABS-CBN reported.