烟草在线据路透社报道编译　　11月14日，瑞典火柴公司执行总裁说，由于瑞典火柴公司迫使竞争对手跟着涨价，瑞典湿鼻烟市场的价格战最终将会缓和。

　　瑞典火柴公司在10月的时候警告说，被称为鼻烟（snus）的瑞典式湿鼻烟出现的降价竞争，将会冲击2012年第四季度和2013年第一季度的利润。

　　但瑞典火柴公司执行总裁拉斯·达尔格伦告诉分析师和投资者说，他预计过些时候，名优鼻烟和低端鼻烟之间的价格差会缩小。而这两种鼻烟之间价格差的扩大，曾经一度刺激吸烟者从瑞典火柴公司占据最大市场份额的高利润名优品牌产品转换到其他产品。

　　达尔格伦在公司的资本市场日上说：“如果我们在很多竞争给予零售商的折扣类型上是正确的，我认为你们今天所看到这样的价格水平是不会支撑很久的，因为大部分竞争一定会有损失。”

　　在10月发出警告后大幅下跌的瑞典火柴公司股票几乎没有什么变化。该公司股票比7月份时的年度高点294.5克朗跌了很多。

　　在公司的两家小鼻烟工厂所在地——西部海滨城市哥德堡发表讲话时，达尔格伦重复了公司发出的警告：第四季度的收益因第三季度的鼻烟市场份额和名优鼻烟销量双双出现下滑而将下降。

　　瑞典火柴公司生产鼻烟和放在唇下吸允用的鼻烟的子公司，在整个集团的利润中占一半以上，而在销售额中占据三分之一。

　　瑞典的名优鼻烟——包括将军牌（General）——占瑞典火柴公司在鼻烟和鼻烟子公司的主要市场——斯堪的纳维亚半岛的销售中的大部分。

　　竞争对手包括帝国烟草公司、英美烟草公司和日本烟草公司的瑞典火柴公司还预测，由于低利润额的便宜鼻烟的销售增加，而公司在1月份的时候决定，尽管烟税上提，公司也不提高名优鼻烟的价格，因此，瑞典的鼻烟利润在2013年初将受到冲击。

Swedish Match Sees Price War Eventually Easing

　　Swedish Match AB believes a price war in Sweden's wet snuff market should eventually ease as rivals are forced to follow price rises by the tobacco products group, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

　　The group had warned last month that cut-price competition in Swedish-style wet snuff, known as snus, w ould hit profits in the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first part of next year.

　　But Chief Executive Lars Dahlgren told analysts and investors he expected a narrowing later on of the price gap between premium and low-end snus, whose widening had encouraged a switch from high-margin premium brands where Swedish Match has its largest market share.

　　"If we are right about the type of discounts that much of the competition is giving to the retailers, I don't think these price levels you see today are sustainable because much of the competition must be bleeding right now," Dahlgren said at the company's capital markets day.

　　Swedish Match shares, which had dropped sharply after last month's warning, were little changed. The stock is well down on its yearly high of 294.5 crowns set in July.

　　Dahlgren, speaking at the west coast city of Gothenburg where the company's two snus factories are located, repeated the company's warning that fourth-quarter earnings would drop after its snus market share and premium snus volumes fell in the third quarter.

　　Swedish Match's unit making snuff and snus - put under the lip and sucked, mostly in pouches - accounts for more than half of group profit and a third of sales.

　　Premium snus in Sweden - including its General brand - accounts for the bulk of Swedish Match's sales in Scandinavia, the snus and snuff division's main market.

　　Swedish Match, whose rivals include Imperial Tobacco, BAT and Japan Tobacco, also expects its snus profit in Sweden to take a hit at the start of 2013, due to rising sales of lower-margin cheap snus and a decision not to raise prices on its premium snus in January despite a tax hike. Enditem