JT Sees Growth in North Africa, Middle East

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 08/16/2011

Japan Tobacco Inc. plans to broaden its cigarette business base in North Africa through partnerships and acquisitions, according to a Nikkei English News story. It has established a Casablanca sales subsidiary that has partnered with a Moroccan cigarette wholesaler to market brands such as Winston and Camel domestically and in Algeria, Tunisia and Israel. JT said Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Israel together had demand in 2010 for 64.5 billion cigarettes, a figure that was equal to about 30 per cent of the demand on the Japanese market. And JT expects cigarette demand to rise as these four countries' economies develop. JT has cigarette factories in South Africa and Tanzania, and, at the end of last month, it announced that it had concluded an agreement to acquire for about US$450 million all outstanding shares of the Haggar Cigarette & Tobacco Factory (HCTF), which has operations in the Republics of Sudan and South Sudan. The acquisition is expected to be completed in November. 'HCTF is the leading tobacco manufacturer in the Republic of Sudan with a market share of over 80% and a total volume of over 4.5 billion cigarettes in 2010,' said JT in announcing the agreement. Enditem