Jump to full article: TREND-News.com (uk) (se), 2009-08-11
Author: Generation Research, 11 August 2009
Intro: In the first quarter of 2009, global duty free and travel retail tobacco sales slumped by -19.3% compared with the same quarter in 2008 - according to the TREND Tobacco Index which is based on actual audits of retail sales among a panel of locations worldwide.
"This is probably the worst quarter ever recorded for the tobacco business which has been battered in travel retail and elsewhere", says Yngve Bia, President Generation Research. "Sales were especially poor onboard airlines with a sales decline of -26.5%. Also airport sales were down steeply by -24.0%".
Sales in Asia Pacific and the Middle East held up relatively well in 1Q 2009 whilst significant drops were recorded in Europe (-21.2%) and the Americas (-12.3%). In Europe it is especially intra-EU duty-paid sales that have suffered, down by -21.6% in Euros and equal to a drop of -31.5% in US dollars. . . .
Amidst concerns of dramatically falling sales numbers, the tobacco industry is also faced with the challenging fact that many governments around the world - and particularly some in Asia - are considering supporting a ban on duty free cigarettes as part of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
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