Author: Marissa Dean

Registration Open for CTP Listening Session

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Registration is open for the virtual listening session on the development of the Center for Tobacco Products’ (CTP) five-year strategic plan, which will take place on Aug. 22 beginning at 10 a.m. EDT.
The virtual listening session is an opportunity to verbally provide open public comment on the development of the new strategic plan, including proposed strategic goals. After introductions, the center will begin the listening session with an overview of the process used to develop the CTP’s strategic plan, including proposed goal areas. Registered speakers will then have approximately four minutes each to verbally share their comments on any topics related to the strategic plan. Submit a request to verbally provide open public comment by Aug. 14 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Registration also includes a “listen-only” option for those who want to attend the session but do not request to speak. Listen-only registration slots are unlimited, but registration is required. There is no deadline to register for listen-only slots.
In addition to this listening session, the public can submit electronic or written comments to the Federal Register notice. Electronic comments must be submitted, and written comments must be postmarked, by Aug. 29.
August 8, 2023
Venezuela Bans E-Cigs

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The Venezuela Ministry of Health has banned e-cigarettes in the country, according to The Limited Times. The ban includes production, distribution, marketing and use of “vapers” and similar products.
The ban considers that “health is a fundamental right” and the “obligation of the state, which will guarantee it in the context of the right to life,” promoting and developing “policies aimed at raising the quality of life, collective well-being and access to services.”
“All people, in general and without distinction, have the right to health protection, and the duty to actively participate in its promotion and defense and to observe the sanitation measures established by law,” said Nicolas Maduro’s government.
E-cigarettes and similar products “contain potentially toxic and harmful substances to health, increase the risk of heart disease, lung disorders, among other pathologies,” according to the Ministry of Health.
August 7, 2023
Misperceptions Persist

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A large portion of smokers have misperceptions about vaping, thinking it is just as harmful or more harmful than smoking, according to the most recent Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) survey data.
The data shows that “among the 1.8 million smokers who are yet to try vaping, 43 percent believe e-cigarettes are as harmful or more than smoking, up from 27 percent in 2019.” It also shows that “among the 2.9 million smokers who have tried vaping but stopped, 44 percent believe vaping is as harmful or more than smoking, up from 25 percent in 2019.”
Due to the large proportion of misperception, ASH feels that its swap to stop program is “threatened by growing concerns among smokers that vaping is as or more risky than smoking.”
“The government has backed a vaping strategy as its path to reduce rates of smoking, but this approach will be undermined if smokers don’t try vapes due to safety fears or stop vaping too soon and revert to smoking. The government must act quickly to improve public understanding that vaping poses a fraction of the risk of smoking,” said Hazel Cheeseman, deputy chief executive of ASH.
Groups such as the Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA) and the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) support ASH’s stance on government action.
“It is abundantly clear that the lack of knowledge amongst smokers about the relative risks about smoking and vaping is a public health issue that the government can no longer ignore,” said John Dunne, UKVIA director general. “The ASH report highlights that misleading and inaccurate stories and headlines about vaping in the mainstream media plays a huge part in this knowledge gap, which is preventing smokers’ switch to a much less harmful alternative to cigarettes.
“The public needs to know that the scare stories regularly reported in the mainstream media are simply not true, and we urgently need an antidote to this highly damaging misinformation.
“The industry is not permitted to make health claims about the relative harms of smoking and vaping, but keeping the public in the dark about this means hundreds of smokers continue to needlessly die in the U.K. every day because they don’t have the information they need to switch.
“We must be allowed to set the record straight, and the government should launch a nationwide public information campaign so that the relative risks of smoking and vaping are accurately communicated.”
Ann McNeill, professor at King’s College London and author of a government-commissioned review on the harms from vaping, according to Talking Retail, commented: “Anxiety over youth vaping is obscuring the fact that switching from smoking to vaping will be much better for an individual’s health. It is wrong to say we have no idea what the future risks from vaping will be.
“On the contrary, levels of exposure to cancer-causing and other toxicants are drastically lower in people who vape compared with those who smoke, which indicates that any risks to health are likely to be a fraction of those posed by smoking.
“We must not be complacent about youth vaping, and further regulation is needed, but so, too, is work to ensure many more adults stop smoking, and vaping is an effective means of doing that.”
August 7, 2023
New Rules for Vape Supplier Imports

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The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in the Philippines said it will require importers of raw materials for vaping products to seek special clearances to release their shipments.
The agency cited the need to impose order on an industry with many emerging players, according to media reports.
“For vape products, we are going to require them to (apply for) the authority to release imported goods for raw materials,” BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said. “We are thinking of ways to regulate because there are so many vape products now. The production of vape products is a backyard industry, so we’re thinking of ways to regulate it.”
In its latest revenue memorandum circular, the BIR announced that it is now requiring importers or manufacturers of raw materials and equipment used to make heated-tobacco products and vapor products to apply for an authority to release imported goods.
“The raw materials specially used for the manufacture of heated-tobacco products and vapor products shall include but are not limited to propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, organic sweetener, artificial flavoring and nicotine,” the circular states.
Devices used for the manufacture of these products will also include but are not limited to mechanical or electric heating elements/atomizers, circuits, cartridges, reservoirs, pods, tanks, mods and mouthpieces.
Apart from the authority to release imported goods, importers and manufacturers must also apply for a permit to operate. Lumagui said that the BIR is working on addressing the shortfall from excise tax collections, which is mainly due to illicit tobacco.
“We’re targeting to minimize that 20 percent (shortfall). Within the year, we can cut that by more than half … ultimately, I want to make sure to fully resolve that shortfall,” he said.
August 7, 2023
Quebec Flavor Ban to Begin in October

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Quebec’s flavor ban will take effect Oct. 31, according to Vaping360.
The ban will include vaping products with flavors other than tobacco and will prohibit e-liquid sold in bottles with a capacity greater than 30 mL and prefilled devices with a capacity greater than 2 mL.
The flavor ban was announced in a draft published in April. More than 30,000 citizens of Quebec commented on the proposed ban, according to the Quebec Vaping Rights Coalition, but the health ministry reportedly didn’t make any changes to the rules in response.
Quebec is the largest province in Canada to pass a flavor ban. Four other provinces and territories have flavor bans in place, and one has passed a ban but has not set an effective date yet. Three other provinces restrict flavored products to adult-only stores.
August 4, 2023
Zimbabwe Aims for $1.6 Billion in Exports

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So far this marketing season, Zimbabwe has exported more than 98 million kg of tobacco. The country’s goal is to export $1.6 billion total, according to The Herald, an increase from 2022’s $900 million.
To date, $502 million has been exported compared to $417 million in the same period in 2022, a 20 percent increase.
Export value includes what farmers receive in payment for growing, curing and grading the crop as well as what merchants earn for extra processing, packing, application of skills in meeting precise customer orders and final dispatching.
“In terms of exports from our leaf, we are projecting over $1.6 billion compared to $900 million achieved in 2022, so we are going for growth in every aspect,” said John Basera, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development permanent secretary. “My expectations are very high; we need to go for better growth.” According to Basera, this year’s tobacco yield is the highest and best ever produced in the country.
“The season was good, the crop quality was also good and so are the prices,” said Chelesani Tsarwe, Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) public relations officer. “Farmer payments are being done on time as compared to previous seasons. Overall, there was orderly tobacco marketing, and stakeholders are adhering to the board’s compliance frameworks.”
“If government continues to empower smallholder farmers like in the case of Pfumvudza, then farmers are assured of getting inputs on time,” said Edward Dune, Tobacco Farmers Union Trust vice president. “Unscrupulous middlemen should totally be eliminated to ensure that farmers get what they actually deserve.”
“Tobacco has transformed the majority of people, but there is a need to ensure that processing is done in the country to ensure that our farmers get more money,” Dune said.
Tobacco accounts for the largest foreign currency earning crop in Zimbabwe. The crop is exported throughout the year, but the bulk is bought from contracted farmers. China accounts for 40 percent to 45 percent of total exports.
August 4, 2023
Biden Opposed to Limiting Flavor Regs

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The Biden administration has published a Statement of Administration Policy outlining its opposition to parts of a proposed funding bill that would limit the Food and Drug Administration’s ability to ban flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes, reports Halfwheel.
The proposed bill would prevent the FDA from receiving funding if it introduced bans on flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes or introduced rules limiting the amount of nicotine a product can have.
The Statement of Administration Policy is not binding. It does not mention the nicotine cap either.
August 3, 2023
NASDAQ Grants Kaival Extension

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The NASDAQ Stock Market has granted Kaival Brands an additional 180 days to regain compliance with NASDAQ’s $1 minimum bid price rule requirement under NASDAQ Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) (the Bid Price Rule), following the expiration of the initial 180-day period to regain compliance on July 31, 2023, according to GlobeNewswire.
NASDAQ’s action follows the submission by Kaival Brands to NASDAQ of a plan for regaining compliance with the Bid Price Rule.
As a result of the extension, Kaival Brands now has until Jan. 29, 2024, to regain compliance with the $1.00 minimum bid price rule requirement. If at any time before Jan. 29, 2024, the bid price of Kaival Brands’ common stock closes at or above $1 per share for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days, NASDAQ will provide written notification to Kaival Brands that it has achieved compliance with the bid price requirement. If Kaival Brands chooses to implement a reverse stock split to regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule, it must complete the reverse split no later than 10 business days prior to the expiration of the additional 180-calendar-day period in order to timely regain compliance.
If Kaival Brands does not regain compliance with the bid price requirement by Jan. 29, 2024, NASDAQ will provide written notification to Kaival Brands that its common stock will be subject to delisting. At such time, Kaival Brands may appeal the delisting determination to a NASDAQ Hearings Panel. There can be no assurance that if Kaival Brands does appeal a subsequent delisting determination, such appeal would be successful. Kaival Brands’ common stock would remain listed pending the panel’s decision.
The current notification from NASDAQ has no immediate effect on the listing or trading of Kaival Brands’ common stock, which will continue to trade on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “KAVL.”
August 3, 2023
KT&G Reports Second-Quarter Results

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KT&G Corp. posted consolidated revenue of KRW1.34 trillion ($1.03 billion) and operating profit of KRW242.9 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023, according to PR Newswire.
Sales of both combustible cigarettes and heat-not-burn (HnB) products were higher than in the comparison period.
HnB volumes jumped 43.5 percent to 3.63 billion sticks, driven primarily by the rapid global expansion of KT&G’s Lil brand. For the second quarter, KT&G’s overseas heat-not-burn category recorded sales volume of 2.21 billion sticks, a 72.7 percent growth year-over-year.
The company’s overseas combustibles revenue, including both overseas subsidiaries and exports, was KRW265.5 billion. The export revenue increased 5.9 percent year-over-year to KRW152.9 billion, mainly due to the favorable pricing in key markets, including Latin America and the Middle East. The favorable pricing has also increased the profitability of the combustibles exports, as the export operating profit grew 42.6 percent year-over-year. The overseas combustibles sales volume grew 2.6 percent year-over-year to 13.17 billion sticks.
KT&G also shared its plans on share repurchase and cancellation and interim dividend. As part of its three-year shareholder return policy, KT&G plans to acquire 3.47 million of its own shares (KRW0.3 trillion), representing 2.5 percent of its outstanding shares, within three months for cancellation. KT&G will be cancelling its own shares for the first time in 14 years.
In addition, the company declared its first-ever interim cash dividend of KRW1,200 per share. The interim dividend is scheduled to be paid out by Aug. 23. Including the interim dividend, the total dividend per share is expected to increase by at least KRW200 per share compared to last year’s KRW5,000.
August 3, 2023
New BAT Boss Calls for ‘Better’ Vaping Rules

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The newly appointed head of BAT has urged governments to apply “better regulations” toward vaping products and other tobacco alternatives.
Tadeu Marroco told the Financial Times that BAT is “very keen” to work with regulators to address problems such as underage vaping and the environmental impact of e-cigarettes.
“We need to have better regulations. We cannot ignore the benefit of migrating smokers out of cigarettes, but being unregulated, we have issues related to youth access and the environment,” Marroco said.
“The problem is that this is a phenomenon that has grown so fast, and the regulators are always catching up. But there are clearly opportunities for us to improve the level playing field.”
Since Marroco took the helm in May of this year, there has been an increased push around the globe to restrict flavored e-cigarettes, due in part to advice from anti-nicotine groups and the World Health Organization. India, Thailand and Argentina have all banned vaping products.
U.K. National Health Service guidelines suggest vapes can help people stop smoking, although they also state that the activity “is not completely risk-free.” The government said in April that it would offer 1 million smokers vape starter kits. Selling vapes to under-18s is illegal.
August 3, 2023