Editing Tobacco industry (section)

==Position of industry ==
The phrase "tobacco industry" generally refers to the [[company|companies]] involved in the manufacture of [[cigarette]]s, [[cigar]]s, [[Snuff (tobacco)|snuff]], [[chewing tobacco]] and [[smoking pipe (tobacco)|pipe]] tobacco. [[China National Tobacco Co.]] has become the largest tobacco company in the world by volume. Following extensive merger and acquisition activity in the 1990s and 2000s as well as the spinoff of [[Altria]]'s international tobacco holdings as [[Philip Morris International]] in 2008, five firms dominate international markets – in alphabetical order:

* [[Altria]]
* [[British American Tobacco]] 
* [[Imperial Tobacco]]
* [[Japan Tobacco]]
* [[Philip Morris International]]

Altria still owns the Philip Morris tobacco business in the United States, but Philip Morris International has been fully independent since 2008. In most countries these companies either have long-established dominance, or have purchased the major domestic producer or producers (often a former [[state monopoly]]). Until 2014 the United States had one other substantial independent firm, [[Lorillard]], which Reynolds American, Inc. acquired. India has its own major player, [[ITC Limited]] (25.4%-owned by British American Tobacco). A small{{quantify|date=November 2015}}{{when|reason=Date when this statement was writen, and found to be valid|date=September 2024}} number of state monopolies survive, as well as some small independent firms.

[[Tobacco advertising]] is becoming increasingly restricted by the governments of countries around the world citing health issues as a reason to restrict tobaccos appeal.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}