18 May 2026
Despite all the claims of transformation and shifting from cigarettes to alternate tobacco and nicotine products that big tobacco companies are making, they are simply not giving up cigarettes because sustainability of their business lies in lucrative cigarette sales. Cigarettes still form the core of their revenue (Table 1).
Recently, Philip Morris International (PMI) announced plans “to ramp up its sustainability initiatives in the Philippines to remain resilient in its push to promote a smoke-free future”. While it spews its “smoke-free” rhetoric, in reality PMI sold more cigarettes in 2025 in the Philippines than in 2024.
In 2025, PMI sold 21.5 billion sticks to Filipinos compared to 20.8 billion sticks in 2024, while it sold 0.5 billion heated tobacco products (HTP) in 2025, compared to 0.3 billion units in 2024. Clearly PMI’s profit in the Philippines is still overwhelmingly from cigarette sales.
Table 1: 2025 Revenue earned by big tobacco companies*
Total Revenue
Increase in Revenue
2025 Stick Sales
Priority Countries
PMI
$40.6 billion
+7.3%
607.4 billion
Indonesia, Turkey, Russia
BAT
$34.6 bil (£25,610 mil)
-1.0%
465 billion
Brazil, Germany Mexico
JTI
$21.9 bil (¥3,467.7 bil)
+13.4%
563.8 billion
Japan, Philippines, Russia
Imperial Brands
(£32.1 bil)
-0.7%
186.9 billion
USA, Germany, UK
*Sources:
PMI: https://www.pmi.com/content/dam/pmicom/global/docs/investor_relation/pmi-2025-annual-report.pdf
JTI: https://www.jt.com/investors/results/forecast/pdf/2025/Full_Year/20260212_06.pdf
BAT: https://www.bat.com/content/dam/batcom/global/main-nav/investors-and-reporting/reporting/combined-annual-and-sustainability-report/BAT_Annual_Report_2025.pdf
Imperial Brands: https://www.imperialbrandsplc.com/investor-hub/full-year-results-2025
Marlboro is still the world No.1 selling cigarette brand, controlling 11.0% share of the international cigarette market in 2025. In fact, to maintain this position, PMI has relaunched promotions of Marlboro cigarettes in several countries including the Philippines,Indonesia and Bangladesh, targeting young people through its “I am Marlboro” campaign or variations of it.
The Guardian recently exposed how in the Philippines, PMI is running competitions to win a scooter or roadside stands selling Marlboro cigarettes with campaign-branded merchandise by buying the cigarettes. The Guardian also reported that in Indonesian, how an television advert shows young adults climbing mountains and rehearsing in a rock band.
PMI has also launched new promotions of its Marlboro cigarettes in Bangladesh through the “THE RED STORM IS HERE” advertisements, contravening Bangladesh’s law, while JTI has been promoting its cigarettes at retail outlets where the entire store is painted in the colors of the Camel brand.
In Indonesia, which has ASEAN largest number of smokers – 70 million – PMI sold 77.9 billion cigarette sticks in 2025, while in 2024, it sold 79.6 billion sticks.
Globally, PMI sold 607.4 billion sticks globally compared to 616.8 billion sticks in 2024. PMI has 25.3 % of total global cigarette market share.
BAT sold 465 billion cigarettes globally in 2025. While it is 8% lower than the 505 billion sticks sales in 2024, cigarette sales account for about 82% of its total revenue. According to BAT, its cigarettes business “remains essential” and “continue to reward our shareholders”.
Japan Tobacco Inc. (JTI) described 2025 as “tobacco business delivered an exceptional year-on-year performance”, where it sold 563.8 billion cigarettes, 1.7% more than in 2024 (554.4 billion sticks). According to JTI, in 2026 it will focus on “improving profitability through focused investments and cost reduction”. Its key cigarette markets in Asia are Bangladesh, Japan and the Philippines.
According to JTI, “We expect the global combustibles industry value to continue growing in the foreseeable future” and “continuous top-line growth”. JTI will be allocating more resources towards its cigarette global flagship brands —Winston, Camel, MEVIUS and LD—to enable it to grow market share.
U.K. based Imperial Brands, reported that 2025 was “another year of strong performance, which demonstrates the sustainability of our combustibles business” and “Our performance in combustibles highlights the sustainability of our portfolio of markets and brands.” Imperial is protecting its cigarette manufacturing and sales in low-income countries.
Lao PDR has banned e-cigarettes and heated tobacco product and adopted strong tobacco control legislation. Early May, executives from Lao Tobacco Limited (Imperial Brands’ joint venture with the government) and China Tobacco International Lao Manufacturing Co., Ltd and Good Luck Tobacco Co Ltd met with Lao government officials on safeguarding revenues earned from the sale of tobacco products, mainly cigarettes, along with market regulation and international tobacco control measures. Imperial Brands, just like the other tobacco companies, while claiming to transform, is still focused on protecting its cigarette sales to the point of undermining public health measures such as standardized packaging and tax increases.
Despite governments efforts in tobacco control, the global tobacco industry (excluding China)’s combined annual revenue for 2024 was US$880 billion and is set to increase. The industry still has not accepted liability for the suffering and deaths of its customers, nor compensated them, nor has it been made liable for the harms its products cause to the environment.
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