Cigarette manufacturers in countries of the EU have striven to do their best to advance sales of their products in other member countries, in addition to efforts for greater domestic marketing. Overall, the duty-free trade among the member countries tended to dominate the scene. This made it difficult for cigarette exporters from outside the EU to make significant sales after paying the 57.6% import duty. Even the low price of 23 cents per pack for U.S. cigarettes did not help to spark gains in sales to EU customers. In 2003, most countries of the EU increased the share of their cigarette output which was exported, mostly to other EU members. Over 90% of the output of Dutch cigarette factories was exported. More than half of the cigarette output of Austria is exported. In 2003, about half of the German, Greek, and Danish cigarette output was exported.
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