DHAKA: The world's leading tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris has tied up with a Bangladeshi firm to sell Marlboro cigarettes in the local market, company officials said on Sunday.
The Marlboros will be manufactured and distributed by the Dhaka Tobacco Company, the company's chief executive officer Sheikh Bashir Uddin told reporters.
"This agreement will benefit both companies," Matteo Pelligrini, president of Philip Morris International, Asia, said in a statement.
Marlboro's entry into the Bangladesh market is likely to challenge the grip of British American Tobacco on high-priced brands, though Uddin declined to give a specific price per packet.
Dhaka Tobacco, the largest tobacco company in Bangladesh, produced 20 billion cigarettes in 2006 for an estimated market share of about 40 percent.
But the company, with annual sales of around 300 million dollars, dominates here only in terms of the low- and medium-priced brands.
Bangladesh is one of the most profitable tobacco markets in the world, with annual sales of around one billion dollars.
More than 40 percent of Bangladeshi men smoke, according to industry figures.
Philip Morris controlled 15.4 percent of the global cigarette market in 2006. T
he US giant's brands led by Marlboro and L&M are sold in more than 160 countries.
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