Philip Morris International yesterday unveiled a joint venture in the Philippines that will see it team up with Fortune Tobacco, a local cigarette maker owned by tycoon Lucio Tan, to create a company that will control 90 per cent of the domestic cigarette market.

The newly formed PMFTC is expected to build on the two companies' dominant positions in various segments of the Philippine cigarette market, which had an estimated volume of 85bn sticks last year, making it the world's 12th biggest. Tobacco consumption in the Philippines was estimated to be worth 78.9bn pesos ($1.7bn) in 2009, according to the government's statistics agency.

The tie-up comes as other western tobacco groups seek to boost their presence in emerging markets, to counter a fall in smoker numbers in more developed markets as a result of tighter regulation, smoking bans and health concerns.