Philip Morris International (PMI) will accelerate plans to introduce modified risk tobacco products and will enter the e-cigarette market in the second half of 2014, Chief Executive Officer André Calantzopoulos told a New York investors conference.

Use of traditional cigarettes will continue to decline this year and next, PMI said in a summary of the CEO’s remarks. International cigarette industry volume should decline 3 per cent this year and by as much as 3 per cent next year, the company predicted.
Sharp drops of 7-8 per cent in the European Union and 9-11 per cent in Russia were forecast for 2014. Total industry volumes are unlikely to recover until 2015, the company said.
PMI views next year as an investment year, “reflecting raised expenditures in markets where its share performance has trailed expectations and potential, and investment behind its reduced-risk products which it believes represent its greatest growth opportunity,” the company said.