Japan Tobacco Inc. said Monday it will launch six new cigarette products simultaneously early next month in a bid to sustain revenue amid a rapidly shrinking market.
The former state monopoly, 64.5 percent of which is still government-owned, also confirmed it will launch 13 new cigarette products in the current fiscal year, the largest number since it was privatized in 1985.
"We are carrying out the first aggressive product release since 1987, when we put out 10 new products," said Yasumasa Matsunaga, JT's executive vice president.
The six products to debut in January will initially be sold in limited areas, though they will be released on a nationwide basis if they prove popular, company officials said.
Two of the six new products are the menthol version of popular existing brands -- Mild Seven One Menthol Box and Hi-Lite Menthol.
JT has increasingly sought to bet its future on the menthol products sector, a growing category that has thus far been dominated by foreign brands.
The principal factor behind this aggressive product launch is the very survival of the tobacco giant.
Mounting health concerns and a recent tax hike have turned off many prospective consumers in Japan, which until recently was regarded as a smokers' paradise.
For the current fiscal year, JT expects domestic cigarette sales to drop by 5 percent to 217 billion cigarettes.
More immediately, JT is under pressure to come up with popular new brands that will make up for the departure of Marlboro cigarettes.
The company announced in August that it had agreed with Philip Morris International against renewing a Marlboro licensing deal upon its expiration at the end of April 2005. In fiscal 2002, JT sold some 26.7 billion Marlboro cigarettes in Japan, earning some 12 billion yen in operating profit.