An international tobacco products producer plans to restore its 28.5% share of the Ukrainian market in one to two years.

Philip Morris International (PMI) lost about half of its 28.5% Ukrainian market share after the war began , which led to the closing of its factory near Kharkiv. So far, the company has restored about 26% of its market share, and a full recovery is expected in one or two years, said GM of Philip Morris in Ukraine Maksym Barabash.

The recovery was helped by a new factory opening in the Lviv region in May, in which the company invested $30M and already employs 220 workers out of the planned 250 from the Kharkiv factory. The top manager estimates the volume of today’s Ukrainian cigarette market at 32B units per year, or about ₴140B. The leading positions, with a combined share of 90%, are held by four international companies, while legal Ukrainian producers account for about 10%.

At the same time, the illegal cigarette market significantly impacts the situation, the share of which reached 25.7% by October last year, but this summer decreased to 14.5% due to the fight against shadow production.