Philip Morris International Best-Selling Cigarette Brands

Marlboro. Pixabay Image.

This article presents Philip Morris International (PMI)’s sale volume of top cigarette brands. In this article, you will find out about Philip Morris International’s top cigarette brands by sale volume.

What is presented here is only the cigarette sales volume. Therefore, the data in the following charts do not include the sale volume of HTUs or Heated Tobacco Units which are different from cigarettes and are only used in PMI’s proprietary IQOS blade.

Readers interested in Philip Morris International’s HTUs sales volume can find the information in this article: Philip Morris International Cigarette And HTU Sale Volumes.

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Definitions

To help readers understand the content better, the following terms and glossaries have been provided.

Marlboro: Marlboro is a brand of cigarettes manufactured by Philip Morris International (PMI).

It’s one of the world’s best-known cigarette brands, originally launched in 1924. The brand gained immense popularity in the mid-20th century, particularly in the United States, largely due to its association with the iconic “Marlboro Man” advertising campaign, which featured rugged, masculine imagery to appeal to a broad audience.

Marlboro offers a range of products, including different blends, flavors, and nicotine levels.

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Top 5 Cigarette Brands By Sale Volume

philip-morris-international-top-5-cigarette-brands-by-sale-volume

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Philip Morris International’s top 5 cigarette brand names by sale volume consist of Marlboro, L&M, Chesterfield, Philip Morris, and Parliament.

Marlboro has been PMI’s top-selling cigarette brand name in all fiscal years, as shown in the chart above. In fiscal 2022, Marlboro cigarette sales clocked 245 billion units, a rise of 2% over 2021.

Although having sold more than 200 billion sticks, PMI’s sales of Marlboro cigarette has been on the decline over the years. For the first time since 2020, the figure had dropped below the 250 billion sticks threshold.

A trend worth pointing out is the huge gap that exists between Marlboro and other brand names. For example, Philip Morris International’s Marlboro cigarette shipment volume in 2022 was nearly 200% higher than that of its nearest counterpart.

Therefore, we can safely say that Marlboro is making up the bulk of PMI’s total cigarette volume.

On the other hand, the second-highest cigarette brand by sales volume goes to L&M or Liggett & Myers at 83 billion units reported in fiscal 2022. L&M cigarette sales has been solid in the last several years. This brand has consecutively stayed in the second spot as one of the firm’s top-selling cigarette brands, just right behind Marlboro.

Similarly, L&M cigarette sales also have been on the decline since 2018, reaching a record low of 83 billion units as of 2022.

Chesterfield, which comes in at third spot, is another PMI’s top-selling cigarette brand, with roughly 67 billion sticks being sold in fiscal 2022. While the sale volume of other brand names has deteriorated, it has not been the case for Chesterfield.

As seen, Chesterfield’s sale volume has been increasing after hitting a bottom in 2020. It was at a record high in 2022, witg sales topping 67 billion sticks.

The brand names that occupied the 4th and 5th spots are Philip Morris and Parliament, respectively. Both generated sale volumes of 40 billion units and 44 billion units, respectively, in fiscal year 2022.

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Percentage Of Top 5 Cigarette Brands To Total Volume

Cigarette sales volume by percentage (click to enlarge)

Philip Morris International’s top 5 cigarette brand names by sale volume consist of Marlboro, L&M, Chesterfield, Philip Morris, and Parliament.

Among the top five cigarette brands, Philip Morris International’s Marlboro has accounted for the largest portion, topping 39% of the total volume in fiscal year 2022.

Although Marlboro’s sale volume has been falling, the percentage of sales has been increasing, illustrating that the sale volumes of other cigarette brand may have fallen at a much faster rate than Marlboro.

PMI’s L&M (Liggett & Myers) cigarette contributed about 13% of sales to the total cigarette volume in fiscal year 2022. Chesterfield came in at 11% of the total in 2022, slightly below L&M but significantly higher than the 7% ratio of Parliament.

Philip Morris cigarette brand was in the fifth place in 2022, contributing 6.4% of sales to the total cigarette volume. Parliament obtained 7.1% in 2022, securing the brand as the fourth best-selling cigarette brand under PMI’s portfolio.

Together, Philip Morris International’s top five cigarette brands contributed 77% of sales to the total cigarette volume in 2022, representing the majority of the company’s cigarette sales.

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Sale Volume Of Other Cigarette Brands

philip-morris-international-other-cigarette-brands-sale-volume

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Philip Morris International’s other top-selling cigarette brand names by sale volume consist of Sampoerna A, Dji Sam Soe, Bond Street, Lark, and Next.

PMI sold 38 billion units of Sampoerna A in fiscal year 2021, a significant rise over the 33 billion units in 2020, while the sale volume of Dji Sam Soe came in at a record low of 23 billion units.

PMI’s sale of Bond Street tumbled to just 14 billion units in fiscal year 2021, down more than half from its high of over 30 billion units in 2018.

PMI’s sale of Lark also has plummeted since 2018, down to 15.5 billion units as of 2021, while Next has remained solid at nearly 9 billion units.

Among all cigarette brands in comparison in this section, Philip Morris International’s Sampoerna A is the only cigarette brand that has risen in sales since 2018.

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Percentage Of Other Cigarette Brands To Total Volume

philip-morris-international-other-cigarette-brands-sale-volume-in-percentage

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Philip Morris International’s other top-selling cigarette brand names by sale volume consist of Sampoerna A, Dji Sam Soe, Bond Street, Lark, and Next.

PMI’s sale volume of Sampoerna A in 2021 accounted for roughly 6% of the total cigarette volume, while Dji Sam Soe accounted for just 3.6% in the same period.

The sale volume of Bond Street made up just 2.3%, down significantly from over 4% in 2018. Lark and Next cigarette brands obtained about 2.5% and 1.4%, respectively, of the total cigarette volume in 2021. These are some of Philip Morris International’s cigarette brands with the smallest volume contribution.

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Marlboro Sale Volume

Marlboro sales volume (click to enlarge)

More information about Marlboro is available here: Marlboro. Marlboro is one of the top brands of cigarettes marketed and sold by Philip Morris International around the world. Moreover, it is also one of the best-known cigarette brands in the world.

That said, Marlboro shipment volume has significantly declined, reaching 240 billion units as of 2023, as shown in the chart above.

In fiscal year 2020, PMI’s Marlboro sales significantly dived below 235 billion units, an over 10% decrease from the prior year. However, Marlboro sales recovered in post-pandemic time before plunging again in 2023.

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Percentage Of Marlboro To Total Volume

marlboro-sales-volume-in-percentage

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More information about Marlboro is available here: Marlboro.

Although Philip Morris International’s Marlboro sale volume has significantly declined, its percentage to total cigarette volume has increased, as shown in the chart above.

As of 2023, Marlboro sales as a percentage of total volume reached 39% in fiscal year 2023, one of the record highs.

Marlboro’s increasing sale percentage can be attributed to its slower rate of decline compared to other cigarette brands. For example, other cigarette brands such as Dji Sam Soe, Bonod Street, Lark, etc., have experienced a much faster rate of decline in sale volumes.

In fact, the sale volume of Marlboro has actually increased from 2020 to 2023, as seen in previous chart.

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Percentage Of The Total Top 5 Cigarette Brands To Total Volume

philip-morris-international-top-5-cigarette-brands-total-sale-volume

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Philip Morris International’s total volume of top 5 cigarette brands accounted for about 79% of its total cigarette sale volume. This percentage also has significantly increased since 2018, from 68% in 2018 to 79% as of 2023, as shown in the chart above.

The increasing sale percentage of PMI’s top 5 cigarette brands indicates the solid market position of these cigarette brands. Some of their sale volumes have declined, but not as much as the sale volumes of other cigarette brands with lower sale volumes.

In fact, we have seen that the sale volume of some of these top 5 cigarette brands have increased since 2018, Chesterfield in particular, as shown here: cigarette sale volume.

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Conclusion

Philip Morris International’s top 5 cigarette brands have remained solid in sale volumes despite experiencing some declines in sale volumes. Their combined sale percentage has soared to a record high of 79% as of 2023.

The sale volumes of PMI’s other cigarette brands have not performed as solid as the top 5 cigarette brands and have decreased at much faster rates than the top 5 cigarette brands.

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References and Credits

1. All cigarette sales numbers in this article were obtained and referenced from PMI’s quarterly and annual filings which are available in Philip Morris International’s Reports And Filings.

2. Pixabay Images.

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Disclosure

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