Hunan Expanding Inter-Provincial Sales

Source from:  tr.itsmyiq.com Jan 28, 2008 01/29/2008

Hunan province's tobacco industry, which has enjoyed rapid growth since the merger of its two major tobacco manufacturing enterprises, produced 157.5 billion cigarettes last year, according to a Tobacco China Online report quoting the Hunan Daily. It generated Yuan35 billion in sales income, including Yuan27.9 billion in taxes and profits. The Changsha and Changde cigarette factories merged in November 2006 and affiliated to the Hunan Provincial China Tobacco Industry Corp to form Hunan Provincial China Tobacco Industry Co. Ltd (HPCTI), the sole tobacco manufacturing enterprise group in the province. HPCTI has been concentrating its efforts on three priority brands: Furongwang, a high-grade product, Baisha the leading medium-grade cigarette, and Furong, a low-grade product. Between them, these brands account for 97.75 per cent of the province's output. Hunan's cigarettes are sold in 32 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and provincial-level municipalities. And HPCTI is said to have succeeded in rapidly developing its sales in its key target markets, with annual sales of Furongwang in nine other provinces or regions including Guangdong, Jiangsu and Fujian, topping 500 million cigarettes. Last year, HPCTI sold 53.02 per cent of its cigarettes in other provinces, marking the first time that such sales overtook local sales. Enditem