Author: Staff Writer

  • BAT denies Russian tax underpayment

    Russian federal investigators have alleged that British American Tobacco’s local units have failed to pay tax amounting to upwards of RUB335 million, according to report by the Russian Legal Information Agency (RLIA) quoting an Izvestia newspaper story.

    An investigation was opened in respect of BAT’s St. Petersburg, Saratov, and Moscow units, which are alleged not to have paid their taxes in full for the 2008-2009 period.

    BAT Russia was said to have told Izvestia it hadn’t received any information from investigators about criminal cases having been opened.

    At the same time, the company confirmed that the tax authorities had found violations in the company’s operations in 2008-2009, but that the conflict had been resolved earlier this month under a procedure set out in the law.

    BAT representatives insist that they have been following internationally accepted business practices and believe the Russian tax authorities’ claims are ungrounded.

    The RLIA said this was not the first time a large international company had had problems with the Russian tax authorities.

  • Cigarettes seized by Jordanian customs

    The Jordan Customs Department (JCD) on Monday foiled an attempt to smuggle 203,000 packs of cigarettes into the country, according to a Jordan Times story.

    The cigarettes were found in six containers.

    The Times said the packs were seized, and were being held by the JCD ‘until’ the would-be smugglers paid their fines, which amount to about JD5 million.

    It wasn’t clear what would happen to the cigarettes once the fines were paid.

  • Tobacco museum a giant advertisement

    Local health control people have accused the TobaccoMuseum in Shanghai, China, of being a giant advertisement for the tobacco industry, according to a story in the Global times.

    They are demanding that the authorities revoke the museum’s honorary titles that allow the museum to present itself as a venue suitable for students.

    The Times story quoted a museum employee as saying that the museum had been under fire since the School of Public Health at FudanUniversity published a video and report last year criticizing the venue.

  • Volunteering fires up Imperial employees

    UK Imperial pic2Imperial Tobacco employees based in Bristol recently gave something back to the company’s local community when they joined thousands of other people across the UK in taking part in Give & Gain Day.

    The annual event, run by the Business in the Community organization, is the country’s leading employee volunteering action day.

    Company secretary, John Downing, joined people from Imperial’s head office and its UK market team to help spruce up a neglected area in the south of the city.

    Working with the city council and a local community group, the volunteers cleared rubbish, planted trees and tended gardens.

    “As a responsible business it’s important for us to do our bit and support the communities in which we operate,” said Downing.

    “This was a great way for people who work in different parts of our business to come together outside their normal working environment to help others.”

  • Profits up at ITC

    ITC of India reported a net profit of INR19.28 billion ($350.3 million) in the quarter ending March 31, up 19.45 percent from the comparable quarter last year.

    The company’s non-tobacco FMCG business contributed a net profit of INR118.7 million during the quarter, compared with a net loss of INR166.8 million in the 2012 quarter.

    ITC’s profit for the fiscal year 2013 was INR74.18 billion, up 20.38 percent from INR61.61 billion in 2012, as its full-year net sales increased by 19.39 percent to INR 296.06 billion.

    ITC officials said that while the company’s foods business has been profitable for the past few quarters, its nontobacco segment as a whole made a profit for the first time.

    Morgan Stanley analysts expect ITC’s earnings growth to continue, pointing to the company’s recent success in the 64 mm segment.

  • Central European coalition criticizes TPD

    A joint declaration adopted May 17th by Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian agriculture ministers criticizes the European Commission’s draft Tobacco Products Directive, especially the proposed ban on slim and menthol cigarettes, reports Europolitics.

    The ministers said that, if approved, the directive would hurt thousands of families that depend on tobacco cultivation for their living. They called on the Commission to “establish support instruments for producers which would compensate for losses incurred due to the implementation of the directive,” and “to guarantee an alternative for those who would like to withdraw from tobacco production.”

    The ministers also opposed the proposal for cigarette health warnings to cover 75 percent of the surface area of packaging, saying this requirement would have negative consequences for the rights of brand owners and increase the possibility of fraud.

  • Nepal moratorium on Gutka factories

    The Industrial Promotion Board (IPB) in Nepal announced an indefinite moratorium on the registration of new gutka manufacturing units after figures from the Inland Revenue Department showed only 150 of 455 registered gutka factories pay taxes, reports Kantipur Online.

    Following India’s April 2011 directive banning the sale of gutka in plastic pouches, Indian gutka producers have shifted their operations to border towns in Nepal’s Terai region.

    An IPB task force will investigate the gutka industry and submit recommendations within two months.

    According to the customs’ department, local manufacturers exported 361,000 tons of gutka in the first five months of fiscal year 2013, more than three times the amount exported in fiscal year 2012.

  • Eastern signs deal with BAT

    Eastern Co.has signed a five-year cooperation agreement with British American Tobacco, reports Tegaranet.

    Under the deal, Eastern will produce Viceroy cigarettes in Egypt, while BAT will carry out the marketing and distribution.

    The deal is effective from 2014 through 2019.

  • Tobacco among top Russian exports

    Tobacco factories feature prominently on a list of leading Russian exporters recently published by Expert Severo-Zapad.

    According to the business magazine, British American Tobacco in St. Petersburg leads the pack with export revenues of $91.9 million last year. Philip Morris Izhora exported tobacco products worth $70.9 million in 2012, up 15.1 percent from the previous. JTI’s Petro factory came next with exports worth $57.2 million, up 20.7 percent from 2011. JTI’s Kres Neva tobacco processing plant saw its export declining 56.6 percent to $14 million.

  • Pan African Tobacco builds new factory

    The Pan African Tobacco Group recently broke ground for a $20 million tobacco processing factory in Arua, Uganda. The new facility, which includes a 30,000 square meter warehouse, will have a production capacity of 10 tons per hour.

    “As part of this expansion, PTG will manufacture high quality products, while creating hundreds of well-paying jobs in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa, the founder of PTG. “I am delighted to announce that our projects are in progress.”

    David Wakikona, Uganda’s trade minister, laid the factory’s first stone during a ceremony on May 20. He described the site as a source of jobs and timely investment, while praising the commitment of PTG to improve tobacco production and the quality of exports to other regions.

    “The opening of a plant of this size in a rural area is a defining moment in the history of Uganda,” said Wakikona. “It is all the more important given the jobs that will be created.”

    Upon completion, five months from now, the factory will employ 200 permanent and 2,000 seasonal workers. It will also contract with 1,500 drivers to transport its products to destinations throughout the region. The number of Arua leaf growers supplying PTG will increase to 13,000.

    PTG already has a strong presence in the region, where it invests $18 million a year in tobacco cultivation.