Philip Morris will sell three brands of Chinese cigarettes abroad as part of an agreement with the Chinese government, the Wall Street Journal reported. The brands, RGD, Harmony and Dubliss, produced by China National Tobacco Corp (CNTC), will be sold in markets in Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Latin America. In December 2005, CNTC and Philip Morris signed an agreement which gave Philip Morris the right to produce its Marlboro cigarettes in CNTC’s factories in China in exchange for marketing Chinese brands internationally. The tobacco industry is an important source of revenue for the Chinese government, generating approximately US$30 billion in tobacco taxes annually.
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