tobaccoasia 15
Steve Pra , GM
steve@burleytobacco.com
P: +1.859.252.3561
Window of Opportunity
Classic Burley Leaf
www.burleytobacco.com
[Euromonitor]
like Marlboro due to the narrowing price gap of
different bands. This has resulted in overall volume
declines due to higher prices.
However, an increase in taxes also had the re-
verse effect of downtrading in Malaysia and Sin-
gapore. In Malaysia, the economy cigarette seg-
ment saw the most product innovation. Two new
economy brands, Liggett Ducat and Rothmans, were
launched in the second half of 2017 and quickly
gained substantial market share. This reflects the
international players' strategy to mitigate declining
sales in premium brands, as well as the eagerness
of consumers to down-trade to economy brands.
The 10% excise tax hike for cigarette products
in Singapore also saw a comparable trend of
consumers switching downwards, leading to the
strong performance of economy brands like Japan
Tobacco International's LD brand. Philip Mor-
ris International even embarked on a brand con-
solidation process which saw its mid-priced brand
Next phased out in all retail channels by early 2018.
This was done to refocus its effort on battling in
the economy cigarette segment through its fast-
growing brand L&M, as it sought to target price-
conscious consumers.
Surprisingly, countries like Thailand and
Vietnam experienced divergent trends involving
Cigarette packaging
expected to play
decreased role in
sales strategy
Jarred Neubronner,
research analyst,
Euromonitor
