Top 10 Biggest Tobacco Companies in the World in 2017

1. China National Tobacco Co

Score: 18

At the top of this food chain we have one Chinese giant – the China National Tobacco Company. Born in 1982 and headquartered in Beijing, the benemot is owned by the Chinese state. Unlike the other companies on our list, this one lacks a market valuation because it is not listed on the stock market; and yet, it reached the top position due to the sheer size of its sales.

Truthfully, there is little recent information about just how much money CNTC makes from selling cigarettes, but there’s info that it managed to get its claws on 44% of the world’s tobacco-directed money. Given how the 2016 global tobacco market reached $683.4 billion, this puts CNTC’s sales at just over $300 billion.

The CNTC runs a monopoly in China, so approximately 98% of the local smokers buy the company’s 900 brands, such as Hongstashan, which is the most popular, or Chunghwa.

There are about 350 million smokers in China, so there’s little surprise that they manage to pull so much money.

Pixabay/Public Domain

That being said, these have been the top 10 biggest tobacco companies in the world in 2017, and yet another instance where China can show us they go big or go home.