Marlboro Volume Down 10 Per Cent

Source from:  Tobacco Journal 10/28/2011

Marlboro shipping volume dropped 10 per cent in the third quarter as US wholesalers reduced inventory stockpiled earlier in the year, according to Altria Group. Altria, owner of Philip Morris USA (PM USA), said Marlboro volume fell to 28.7 billion sticks, a decline in US market share of 0.9 percentage point to 41.7 per cent. At Altria's US Smokeless Tobacco unit, volume of the Copenhagen and Skoal brands increased nearly 7 per cent to 160.9 million cans and packs in the three months ending 30 Sept. "PM USA believes that third-quarter volume comparisons were negatively impacted because the trade depleted cigarette inventories in the third-quarter that had been built in the first half of 2011. PM USA's reported domestic cigarette shipment volume for the first nine months of 2011 declined 5.4 per cent," Altria said in a statement today. Enditem