BRITISH American Tobacco's production lines produced about 777 billion cigarettes last year, destined for smokers worldwide.

The equivalent of 38.85 billion packets, the epic scale of BAT's operations reflects the global market attraction of its products.

It is the quest to grasp a greater share of that market, of which BAT has 14.6 per cent, that has brought about the most change in the past 13 years.

Throughout the 1990s, the parent company of Rothmans expanded into Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan and Romania.

In 2000, the company strengthened its North American operations when it acquired the 58.5 per cent of Imasco, the group's Canadian associate, which it did not already own, giving it full ownership of Canada's Imperial Tobacco and its significant market share.

In 2002, BAT built and launched factories in Turkey and South Korea, and this year a plant in Nigeria will be completed.

Eastern Europe looms large in the global vision of the company.

BAT did not become the second largest quoted tobacco group in the world without having an eye for emerging markets.

But it is in the Far East that the real gains are to be made.

China is the cigarette capital of the world. Tie in the rest of the Asia-Pacific belt - India, South-East Asia and Australasia - and BAT alone has regional sales topping 192 billion cigarettes. But it has yet to break fully into China's protectionist markets.

That said, it has secured permission to build a factory in Sichuan Province. It signifies the start of something very, very big.

Its tendrils stretch west also. In 1997, it acquired Cigarrera La Moderna, in Mexico, for $1.5bn - the largest foreign investment in the South American country at the time.

BAT has more than 84 factories in 64 countries, all of which helped the firm achieve turnover of £25bn in 2001.

Maintaining that turnover is the challenge facing BAT and its competitors. Markets are changing, driven on by relentless publicity surrounding the harmful effects of their products.

As Western markets become affected by health concerns and the dangers of tobacco, companies need to find the next wave of smokers.

Despite addressing health implications head-on, few would argue that it is not in the best interests of the likes of BAT to expand its reach.

The company's chairman, Martin Broughton, has made clear the expansionist nature of the group.

He said: "We monitor the world for opportunities, and I like to think we are always ready to take advantage of a good deal."

He ruled out repeating another purchase on the scale of Rothmans: "We will not embark on another global deal like the Rothmans merger, but we still see scope for expanding through further investments, for example in a particular country."

He tells the BAT website: "The Chinese Government has done an excellent job in modernising the sector, and we believe we can help the Chinese tobacco industry to develop further.

"Overall, we are putting resources into markets where we believe market share and profitability can be increased. Many countries are considering privatising state-owned tobacco companies and we consider all such opportunities very carefully."

How those opportunities pan out will largely determine whether or not BAT can overhaul the world leader, Philip Morris, which controls 17 per cent of the global market, or stay ahead of the chasing pack - with the likes of Gallaher and Imperial Tobacco Group vying for supremacy