Local advantage

A KT&G employee stocks tobacco products at a convenience store in Mapo District, western Seoul, yesterday. Last month, the Korean tobacco manufacturer’s market share rose 4.3 percentage points from the same period last year to 64.7 percent. The tobacco company’s increase in share was largely due to a drop in sales of foreign brands including Philip Morris (PM), British America Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI). Since 2011, foreign brands have been raising the price of their products and the combined market share of the top three foreign brands has shrunk from 38.1 percent to 35.3 percent last month. PM leads the three with a 19.3 percent market share. In 2011, BAT held the largest market share among the imports but quickly lost its top spot after being the first to raise prices. [YONHAP]