The Australian tobacco industry is a subset of the global industry. All three tobacco companies which operate in Australia British American Tobacco ,Australia Philip Morris International (Australia) and Imperial Tobacco Australia are wholly owned subsidiaries of their overseas parent. Although the Australian tobacco market is considered to be mature and per capita consumption is in decline, the tobacco companies remain highly profitable entities and continue to successfully operate despite the challenging regulatory environment. In 2009, an estimated 21 928.5 million cigarettes were sold in Australia, the equivalent of 1669 packs of 25 cigarettes per minute