Philip Morris LLC announced on Monday a new price increase for some of its cigarette brands as well as the introduction of a new brand on the Egyptian market. The company raised prices for a pack of Merit cigarettes to EGP 42, Marlboro Gold to EGP 39, and Marlboro Red to EGP 39. The newly introduced Marlboro Purple Mix will be sold for EGP 39 per pack. The company said that the price of a pack of L&M will remain at EGP 29 and Marlboro Medium at EGP 35. Last July, Egypt's leading cigarette maker, the Eastern Tobacco Company, said it was raising prices by 10-15 percent days after the country launched the first phase of its new national health insurance system, which will be partially funded by the new hike. Eastern Company supplies about 70 percent of Egypt's cigarettes, which number at about 83 billion cigarettes a year. In recent years, Egyptian smokers have been faced with multiple price hikes due a drop in tobacco imports — among other imported goods after a foreign currency shortage since 2011 — as well as tax hikes.
