[Intl-tobacco] Korea Foreign Cigarette Market Share Rose to 8.9%, KED Says (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Korea Foreign Cigarette Market Share Rose to 8.9%, KED Says
by Jaehyon Cho
SOUTH KOREA;
Source: Bloomberg News, Wednesday, 2/23/00

Seoul, Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Foreign cigarette makers increased their
combined market share in South Korea to 8.9 percent in January from 7.9
percent in December, Korea Economic Daily said, citing Finance and Economy
Ministry data. Their market share is expected to return to the pre-crisis
level of more than 10 percent soon amid rising consumer income, it
reported. Some foreign cigarette makers, such as British American Tobacco
Plc, and Philip Morris Cos., plan to introduce new cigarettes with low
prices to attract more Korean smokers, it said.

The foreign cigarette market share in Korean fell to as low as 4.9 percent
in 1998 when the currency crisis was at its peak, compared with 11.2
percent in 1997; Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corp, the state-run tobacco
monopoly, dominates the local market.

(Korea Economic Daily, 2/24/2000, p.4)