South Korea - a look at KT&G Corporation with 63% of the market..

April 21, 2010 - Tobacco Asia has been taking a look at KT & G Corporation..

Domestic market - KT&G’s brand portfolio retains a 63% of market share in Korea.

Its major brands include: Esse (17% market share), The One (6.9%), Raison (6.0%), This Plus (5.1%), This (2.2%), Season (1.9%), Time (1.8%) and Bohem (1.7%). The company controls 80% of the super slim segment, 67% of the slim and 40% of the king size segments.

Domestic manufacturing is carried out at four high-technology KT&G factories in Korea producing 140 billion pieces of cigarettes annually, and these factories account for 50% of the world’s super slim cigarettes.

The addition of new cigarette factories in Turkey, Iran and Russia (to be opened this year), along with the constant process of automation and facility upgrades will strengthen KT&G’s production capacity globally.

The largest market for KT&G cigarettes currently is the Middle East region, including Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

"Esse is a major success for KT&G and it has targeted a very specific segment of the market, the health-oriented and premium image category," KT&G told Tobacco Asia. "Esse has taken advantage of its position as the first super slim brand in the market in various regions. Esse has enjoyed high performance and has become well-accepted by female smokers, particularly in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Russia - former soviet republics."

For further information on KT&G see the reference below..

Reference: KT&G: Masters of the Super Slim , Tobacco Asia, 4/19/2010.

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