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By A.R.
For tobacco companies 2006 was mainly a year of fighting for buyers of cheap cigarettes. A total of 11 new brands were launched, and prices on some products were cut in the first half of the year. According to tobacco company Philip Morris, more than 77 billion cigarettes were sold in Poland in 2006, 500 million fewer than a year before. The best sellers were cheap brands, accounting for about 82 percent of the market, and pipe tobacco. A survey by consulting company AC Nielsen showed that Polish smokers buy brands such as L&M (about 13 percent of the market), Red&White, Marlboro, Viceroy and Mocne.
The large market share of cheap cigarettes is the result of the excise tax structure in Poland, which encourages manufacturers to offer poorer-quality cigarettes as well as tobacco for making roll-your-owns. The excise tax on different kinds of tobacco products varies, but is still lower than in the EU. Poland has to reach the EU excise tax rate, 64 euros per 1,000 cigarettes, by 2009. Andrzej Dħbrowski, president of Philip Morris Polska, says that maintaining large differences in excise rates is unjustified. It makes smokers choose cheap products, which reduces the state budget's receipts.
In Poland, 37 percent of adult males smoke, and 25 percent of adult females-a total of more than 9 million people.
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