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Year: 2023

  • Zimbabwe to Achieve Target Early

    Zimbabwe to Achieve Target Early

    Workers at Atlas Agri receive bales of leaf at the company’s warehouse in Harare. Zimbabwe is anticipating record volumes this season. (Video: Taco Tuinstra)

    Zimbabwe is poised to reach its 300 million kg tobacco crop target ahead of schedule with 284 million kg already delivered and sold this season, reports The Herald.

    Last season the final count was 212 million kg. If the proportions of the final crop delivered by this time are the same as last year, Zimbabwe should reach its 300 million kg 2025 target within a few weeks.

    “Over 284 million kgs of tobacco have been sold this season, surpassing the set targets, meaning we had a good and very productive season,” said Chelesani Tsarwe, public relations officer at the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, which regulates the trade.

    In an attempt to extract more value from the country’s tobacco business, the government of Zimbabwe has formulated the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan. The blueprint aims to create a $5 billion tobacco industry by 2025 through a combination of value addition and increased leaf production.

    The 284 million kg compares with 190 million kg sold in the same period last year and represents a new record.

    The Herald, which tends to tow the government line, attributes the country’s productivity to its controversial land reform program in the early 2000s, which involved the confiscation of primarily white-owned commercial farms and redistribution of land to smallholders.

    Prior to land reform, Zimbabwean tobacco was produced by about 1,500 commercial farmers who sold their tobacco at auction. Today, tobacco is produced by tens of thousands of small-scale farmers, most of whom contract directly with leaf merchants because they lack the means to finance their own operations.

    Zimbabwe produces 6 percent of the world’s tobacco. The country reportedly has enough tobacco seed to cater for the next eight years.

  • Ghana Outlaws Vape Sales and Promotion

    Ghana Outlaws Vape Sales and Promotion

    Ghana has banned all recreational use of vaping and e-cigarette products.

    In a press release, the country’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) states that the “sale, advertisement and recreational use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) such as vapes and other non-nicotine tobacco products by the public” is illegal.

    However, ENDS can be registered as a prescription-only medicine for the purposes of cessation therapy.

    The FDA claims it has sent notice to manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, and retailers to remove all advertisements on social media, billboards and neon signs immediately and refrain from the importation of the products.

    The FDA states that there “will be repercussions including sanctions” for failure to adhere to the rules.

  • Tabaterra to Produce JTI Brands for Georgia

    Tabaterra to Produce JTI Brands for Georgia

    Photo: Tabaterra

    Tabaterra will produce certain Japan Tobacco International brands in Azerbaijan and sell them in Georgia under a recently signed deal between the companies.

    “We are very pleased to have partnership with JTI on the production and export of global brands,” said Tabaterra Director Elman Javanshir in a statement. “The export agreement we signed is a clear example of production of high-quality products at Tabaterra in accordance with international standards.

    According to Javanshir, the export agreement will make a significant contribution to the economy of Azerbaijan, generating annual foreign currency inflows of around $13 million.

    “The export agreement we signed with Tabaterra CJSC is of great importance for JTI in terms of strengthening our position in the Georgian market,” said Sergey Buksa, general manager of JTI for Belarus and the Caucasus region.

    “Based on the experience and production capabilities of our business partner, Tabaterra, we can now manufacture our global brands such as Sobranie, Winston and Camel in Azerbaijan in a shorter period of time and ensure its accessibility for Georgian consumers. The export agreement we have signed will contribute to the increase of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Georgia.”

    Tabaterra was registered in November, 2017. In addition to its own products, the company produces international tobacco brands under license. 

  • Price Hikes Drive Purchases Abroad

    Price Hikes Drive Purchases Abroad

    Photo: mema

    Consecutive price hikes appear to have prompted Danish smokers to purchase more cigarettes abroad, reports The Local.

    In 2019, Danish smokers purchased 250 million cigarettes in shops across the border. By 2022, that number increased to 700 million, according to the Ministry of Taxation. That reflects a rise in spending from DKR410 million ($60.34 million) to DKR1.15 billion.

    The figures coincide with the rise in price of cigarettes in Denmark. Between 2020 and 2022, the price of a pack of cigarettes increased from DKR40 to DKR60.

    “The Ministry of Taxation’s figures speak for themselves,” Janick Nytoft, managing director of The Cooperative Merchants, an industry organization, was quoted as saying by newswire Ritzau. “You cannot raise taxes in Denmark without increased cross-border trade. Cigarettes bought abroad do not make the Danes healthier, but the treasury and the shops poorer,”

    Meanwhile, a 2022 survey of smoking habits, showed that the rise is cigarette prices had not significantly reduced the number of smokers in Denmark.

    In 2022, 19 percent of people in Denmark smoked daily or occasionally, compared to 18 percent recorded in 2020. Among 15-19 year olds, smoking incidence actually increased. In 2022, 25 percent of this age group said they smoked daily or occasionally—up from 23 percent in 2022. The same age group also experienced a rise in users of e-cigarettes and smokeless nicotine products.

    Health activists said the tax ministry’s numbers proved that the price hikes had been too modest. Mads Lind, chief consultant at the Heart Association, urged the government to increase prices to DKR100 per pack.

    In addition to price hikes, Denmark has been debating other measures to reduce the number of smokers. Other proposals include plain packaging, restrictions on product displays and a so-called generational tobacco ban, which would prohibit sales to people born after a certain date.

    According to the National Health Authority, around 13,600 people die every year from smoking in Denmark.

  • Ninth Circuit Denies Lotus MDO Review

    Ninth Circuit Denies Lotus MDO Review

    Entrance to United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit . Headquartered in San Francisco, California, the Ninth Circuit is by far the largest of the 13 courts of appeals. (Credit: Eric BVD)

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on June 30 declined to review a Food and Drug Administration marketing denial order for Lotus Vaping Technologies’ flavored e-liquid products.

    The FDA issued marketing denial orders for Lotus’ flavored products, finding that the petitioners’ applications lacked sufficient evidence showing that the flavored products would provide a benefit to adult users that outweighs the risks such products pose to youth.

    Lotus challenged the ruling in court, but the judges held that the text of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act authorizes the FDA to require that manufacturers submit comparative health risk data, which necessarily includes comparisons of flavored e-liquids to tobacco-flavored e-liquids.

    The judges also held that the FDA did not arbitrarily or capriciously deny Lotus’ applications and that any error the agency committed by failing to consider Lotus’ marketing plans was harmless.

  • Derek Yach

    Derek Yach

    A global health expert and anti-smoking advocate for more than 30 years, Derek Yach is the owner of Global Health Strategies. Previously, Yach was the director of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World and a World Health Organization cabinet director and executive director for noncommunicable diseases and mental health. He was deeply involved with the development of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. On this page we feature a selection of Yach’s contributions to Tobacco Reporter.

    Arizona Advances Landmark Vape Bill

    The Arizona Senate passed House Bill 4001 on May 26 with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 24-2, establishing the state’s first formal regulatory framework for

  • Cheryl Olson

    Cheryl Olson

    Cheryl K. Olson is a California-based public health researcher who specializes in behavioral health issues and consults on tobacco product behaviors via McKinney Regulatory Science Advisors. She spent 15 years on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. In this section we feature a selection of Olson’s contributions to Tobacco Reporter

    Arizona Advances Landmark Vape Bill

    The Arizona Senate passed House Bill 4001 on May 26 with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 24-2, establishing the state’s first formal regulatory framework for

    France Sets Steep Fines in Pouch Ban

    Restrictions cover the use, possession, and sale of nicotine pouches, with violations carrying penalties of up to five years in prison and fines reaching €400,000.

    IQOS Ranks No. 74 in Global Brands

    The company said that IQOS surpassed $10 billion in annual net revenues within a decade of launch, contributing significantly to PMI’s broader smoke-free business.

  • Clive Bates

    Clive Bates

    Clive Bates is the director of Counterfactual Consulting and the former director of Action on Smoking and Health (U.K.). On this page we feature a selection of his contributions to Tobacco Reporter.

    Arizona Advances Landmark Vape Bill

    The Arizona Senate passed House Bill 4001 on May 26 with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 24-2, establishing the state’s first formal regulatory framework for

    France Sets Steep Fines in Pouch Ban

    Restrictions cover the use, possession, and sale of nicotine pouches, with violations carrying penalties of up to five years in prison and fines reaching €400,000.

    IQOS Ranks No. 74 in Global Brands

    The company said that IQOS surpassed $10 billion in annual net revenues within a decade of launch, contributing significantly to PMI’s broader smoke-free business.

  • Nigeria Suspends Taxes on Tobacco

    Nigeria Suspends Taxes on Tobacco

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Nigeria’s president, Bola Tinubu, has suspended excise taxes on some locally produced goods, including tobacco, and telecommunications services that were introduced two months ago, reports Bloomberg.

    Tinubu signed the executive orders to “address business unfriendly fiscal policy measures and multiplicity of taxes,” according to his spokesman, Dele Alake.

    The order includes certain imported vehicles, single-use plastic products and domestically manufactured alcoholic drinks and tobacco. The excise taxes were introduced by Muhammadu Buhari in his last weeks in office.

    Tinubu “promised to run a government that will not make life difficult for Nigerians or asphyxiate corporate entities,” Alake said.

  • India: Sale of Excess Tobacco Allowed

    India: Sale of Excess Tobacco Allowed

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry has permitted the sale of excess flue-cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco via auction platforms, according to The New Indian Express.

    The orders follow Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s letter to Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal requesting farmers be allowed to sell excess FCV after being negatively affected by the Mandous cyclone.

    “Of the total tobacco grown in 53,000 hectares, more than 50 percent of the area was severely damaged, due to which the farmers replanted the crop as there is no alternate crop,” Reddy wrote. “Mandous cycle caused tobacco growers to incur additional costs on the production of the crop during this year as the farmers were forced to go for replanting, which also forced the farmer to irrigate the crop during the season to save the crop. Cost of production increased heavily due to replanting, irrigation and increased labor costs.”

    FCV tobacco farmers affected by the cyclone are not in a monetary position to pay penalties for excess tobacco produced beyond authorized quantities. Reddy requested orders similar to those in Karnataka allowing the sale of excess FCV be issued to help tobacco growers in Andhra Pradesh.