According to the data from China's State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA), Chinese smoked more cigarettes in the first half of 2012, helping the tobacco industry's profits to climb rapidly despite the current economic slowdown.
China's tobacco sales in the first six months rose 2.81% from a year ago to 1.31 trillion cigarettes, while output topped 1.3 trillion cigarettes, making China the world's largest tobacco producer and consumer. The cigarette consumption figure in the first half was equal to about five cigarettes smoked by every Chinese each day.
In the first half of 2012, the tobacco industry remained one of the most profitable sectors in China, with a combined profit of 152.04 billion yuan (24.08 billion U.S. dollars).
Meanwhile, the tobacco industry turned in 480.72 billion yuan in tax revenues over the first six months, up 17.65% from a year earlier.
In the period, China's tobacco exports increased 9.2% year-on-year to 527 million U.S. dollars, while imports reached 1.25 billion U.S. dollars.
China has more than 300 million smokers and another 740 million people exposed to second-hand smoke. About 1 million Chinese die from tobacco-related heart attacks, strokes, cancer, lung ailments and other diseases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
You may be interested in:
2012 China Tobacco Market Depth Survey Report
2012 China Tobacco Industry Development Analysis and Forecast Report
