Author: Taco Tuinstra

Campaigners Slam RYO Tax Hike

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Campaigners have slammed U.K. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt after he announced that duty on hand-rolling tobacco would be increased by 10 percent above the “tobacco duty escalator” (inflation plus 2 percent).
“The chancellor has just raised two fingers to working class people across the country,” said Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest.
“Raising duty on hand-rolled tobacco by such a punitive amount is going to push more smokers further into poverty or into the hands of illegal traders including criminal gangs.”
Hunt made his comments during his Autumn Statement on Nov. 22, when the chancellor announced his latest financial package to the House of Commons
According to Treasury figures, smokers will be paying an extra £2.21 ($2.77) for a 30-gram packet of hand rolling tobacco.
Smokers will be paying an additional £0.66 per pack of 20 manufactured cigarettes and an extra £0.33 per 10 gram of cigars.
The Treasury expects to rake in an extra £40 million from the measure next year.

This is a clear attack on smokers from poorer backgrounds, many of whom use hand-rolled tobacco because until now it’s been cheaper than buying manufactured cigarettes.
Simon Clark, director, Forest
“This is a clear attack on smokers from poorer backgrounds, many of whom use hand-rolled tobacco because until now it’s been cheaper than buying manufactured cigarettes,” said Clark.
“Instead of punishing adults who smoke with punitive taxation designed to force them to quit, the government should focus on the underlying reasons why a greater proportion of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are smokers.
“Often it’s because of their environment but, instead of improving the conditions in which many people live, this Tory government is determined to force smokers to give up a habit that may relieve some of the stress caused by their environment.”
November 23, 2023
Sampoerna Expands

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Sampoerna plans to establish new factories for hand-rolled clove cigarettes (SKT) throughout Java, Indonesia, hiring tens of thousands of employees and creating multiplier effects for local communities, the company announced on its website.
This plan will be first realized with a new SKT production facility in Blitar City, East Java, and one in Tegal Regency, Central Java, with operations scheduled to commence in the first half of 2024.
“As a company that has been operating for 110 years in Indonesia, the new addition to Sampoerna’s SKT production facilities through an investment of up to IDR638 billion [$42 million] will strengthen Sampoerna’s SKT portfolio,” said Sampoerna President Director Vassilis Gkatzelis.
“With a total new workforce of tens of thousands of workers, directly and indirectly, we are optimistic that this action by Sampoerna will increase employment opportunities in the formal sector for the local community while creating a strong multiplier effect for economic development and becoming one of the growth drivers in those regions.”
Currently, Sampoerna operates four SKT manufacturing facilities in Surabaya, Malang and Probolinggo; two machine-made cigarette production facilities in Pasuruan and Karawang; and one smoke-free tobacco product manufacturing facility in Karawang, where the company manufactures Heets for Philip Morris International’s IQOS tobacco-heating product.
In addition, Sampoerna also partners with 38 third-party operators (TPO) across 28 regencies/cities in Java. Sampoerna currently has more than 76,000 direct and indirect employees, about 90 percent of whom are working in the SKT production facilities.
In addition to opening Sampoerna’s new SKT production facilities in Blitar City and Tegal Regency, there will be additional employment of tens of thousands of people in existing TPOs in East Java, Central Java, the Special Region of Yogyakarta, and West Java, as well as with the opening of five new TPOs in East Java and Central Java in the first half of 2024.
After a long period of decline, the SKT segment has started to recover in Indonesia, with the market share going up to around 27 percent until the third quarter of 2023. According to Sampoerna, this development has been driven in part by the government’s excise tax policy which, especially since 2021, which considers employment.
November 22, 2023
Tobacco Control Efforts Have Slowed: Report

Photo: DenisNata
Implementation of tobacco control policy measures required by the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) decelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new data acquired by the Global Tobacco Control Progress Hub.
The MPOWER tobacco control scorecard, which reports country-level implementation of key FCTC policy measures, reveals that two-thirds (68 percent) of 195 countries reported no improvement or a reduction in key policies to reduce tobacco use between 2020 and 2022, with one-third of countries (35 percent) reporting a decline. Only 32 percent of reporting countries reported an improvement.
The largest declines occurred in low-income countries and those located in the eastern Mediterranean and southeast Asia. However, the slowdown was observed around the globe.
“We are very concerned with the deceleration in the adoption of high-impact tobacco control policies,” said Joanna Cohen of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in a statement.
“This disruption is very troubling, especially following 12 years of steady progress in implementing these policies. We urge all countries to redouble efforts to reduce tobacco use to make up for lost ground. We cannot allow this setback to further impair global efforts to curb the tobacco epidemic. Progress delayed is improved health denied.”
The news comes prior to an abbreviated summit of the FCTC treaty scheduled for later this week in Geneva. The treaty’s 10^th Conference of the Parties (COP10) is being convened virtually on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24, to be followed by a full session in early 2024.
“This slowdown is a wake-up call and we urge all countries to adopt strong measures to get tobacco control back on track and reignite global efforts to reduce tobacco use,” said Les Hagen of ASH Canada.
“The enactment of high-impact tobacco control policies was delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic, and we cannot allow the tobacco industry to take further advantage of the situation. This disturbing slowdown could have dire consequences for millions of people worldwide, especially if it is sustained. We urge all FCTC Parties to throttle up efforts to reduce tobacco use and bend the curve back to its previous trajectory.”
Introduced in 2003 by the WHO, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is the world’s only public health treaty. The treaty is credited with preventing millions of deaths resulting from tobacco use. Tobacco kills over eight million people annually worldwide, representing one of the leading causes of death and disease.
The Global Tobacco Control Progress Hub is an independent public health treaty surveillance platform and it is a collaboration of ASH Canada and the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
November 22, 2023
Farmers Demand Full U.S. Dollar Retention

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Zimbabwean tobacco farmers have asked the government to allow them to retain 100 percent of their earnings in U.S. dollars in the upcoming selling season, reports The Herald.
The request comes after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced tobacco growers will be paid only 75 percent of their sale proceeds in foreign currency in the 2023-2024 season. The remaining 25 percent is to be settled in local currency at the prevailing interbank market rate.
This ratio is down from the 85/15 percent split that applied in the 2022-2023 season.
Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association (ZTGA) Chairman George Seremwe said tobacco farmers need to retain all of their earnings in foreign currency because their production cost, too, are foreign-currency based. Under the prevailing split, farmers struggle to turn a profit, according to Seremwe.
Zimbabwe Tobacco Association CEO Rodney Ambrose concurred. “Tobacco production costs are already 90 to 100 percent dollarized. Last season’s 85 percent retention assisted in improving growers’ viability, more so given the flattening out of farmers tobacco prices and increased costs of production,” he said.
“Contractors have lent out almost 100 percent of their loans in foreign currency to farmers, anything less than the current 85 percent retention will negatively impact on growers’ viability.”
“It’s unfortunate that 75/25 split portion reverses the gains made, we hope that the policy will change in February 2024,” said Tobacco Farmers Union Trust President Victor Mariranyika. “This previous season’s 85 percent retention was not enough for farmers, so we were looking forward to 100 percent foreign currency retention in the 2024 marketing season,” he said.
Under the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, Zimbabwe aims to sustainably produce 300 million kilograms of flue-cured tobacco by 2025. In 2023, the country’s farmers produced 296 million kg and earned $897 million.
A Nov. 10 report by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) shows the number registered tobacco growers declined by a quarter for the 2023-2024 season.
November 22, 2023
Pouches Do little to Curb Cravings: Study

Photo: Ohio State University
Nicotine pouches do little to curb smokers’ nicotine cravings, according to a study by scientists at the Center for Tobacco Research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center—Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.
The researchers evaluated whether nicotine pouches with different levels of nicotine concentration were more or less appealing to smokers.
They found that current smokers had a much greater spike of nicotine in their blood levels and much sharper relief from craving symptoms when smoking than when using both the low-dose and higher dose nicotine pouches. That spike of nicotine measurable in the blood occurs about five minutes after smoking, explained lead author Brittney Keller-Hamilton.
With nicotine pouches, it typically takes 30 minutes to an hour to hit peak effectiveness. The same is true for the decline in nicotine levels; it is a much more gradual decline as well for oral pouches.
Because of this, says Keller-Hamilton, it is reasonable to see how the craving for instant gratification of cigarette smoking is more appealing than oral nicotine pouches for individuals who are already experiencing nicotine addiction.
“Our challenge is to approach regulation of nicotine pouches to limit their appeal among young people while making them more appealing to adult smokers who would see health benefits by switching from cigarettes—which have the most severe health impacts with long-term use—to nicotine pouches,” said Keller-Hamilton in a statement.
November 21, 2023
KT&G Recognized for Carbon Neutrality

Kim Jeong-hoo, head of KT&G’s Yeongju Plant (left), at the award ceremony | Photo: KT&G
KT&G’s Yeongju factory has been recognized by South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy for its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality.
Since 2020, the Yeongju plant has actively engaged in reducing greenhouse gases through continuous investment in equipment and improvements in manufacturing processes, successfully cutting down 437 tons of oil equivalent over three years. Moreover, the plant participates in the energy saving technology information exchange program, contributing to greenhouse gas reduction policies and leading carbon reduction activities through ongoing education and promotional efforts.
In 2021, the Yeongju plant acquired ISO 50001 (energy management system) certification. Last year, the plant was selected as an exemplary site under the Korea Energy Agency’s voluntary energy efficiency goal program.
“KT&G aims to go beyond mere numerical improvements, linking our value chain to tackle climate change and lead in reducing greenhouse gases,” KT&G wrote in a statement. “We will continue to generate tangible ESG results and engage in diverse activities connected to sustainability.”
November 21, 2023
JT Complains About Eastern’s Dominance

Photo: Anton Petrus
Japan Tobacco International has complained to the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) about Eastern Co.’s dominance of the domestic cigarette market, reports Daily News Egypt.
The complaint allegedly involves JTI’s Gold Coast brand, which competes in Egypt’s low-priced cigarette segment. Recent tax amendments have made it costly for JTI to import the cigarette from Turkiye, where it used to be produced.
JTI has reportedly been trying to get Gold Coast produced by Eastern Co., which has a monopoly on domestic cigarette production, and included it in the contract between the two parties, which will expire in mid-2024. However, the two parties have not yet reached a final agreement, and JTI has stopped selling its Gold Coast brand until the negotiations with Eastern Co. are completed.
While the state-owned Eastern Co. continues to dominate the Egyptian tobacco market, its position has weakened in recent years.
In September 2022, United Tobacco Co. (UTC) started manufacturing cigarettes in Egypt, ending Eastern Co.’s decades-old monopoly. UTC is jointly owned by Eastern Co. and Philip Morris International.
The tax amendments also allowed the cigarette companies to increase the prices of their products after the crisis that hit the cigarette market in Egypt amid a shortage in supply.
Earlier this month, Global Investment Holding Co. of the United Arab Emirates completed its acquisition of a 30 percent stake in Eastern Co.
November 21, 2023
Brazil Busts Fake Cigarette Network

Photo: Policia Federal
Brazil’s Federal Police cracked down on a criminal network trafficking fake Paraguayan cigarette brands in Minas Gerais state, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). Law enforcement agents reportedly issued multiple arrest warrants and froze more than $4 million in assets.
The suspects face charges of smuggling, counterfeiting, human trafficking, slave labor, forgery, misuse of machinery, crime against consumer relations, crime against trademark registrations and money laundering.
Led by a businessman from Sao Paulo, the organization forced Paraguayan nationals to make the cigarettes in hidden factories. The group reportedly picked up workers in Paraguay, blindfolded them, and drove them east across the border into Brazil, where they were held under surveillance inside the factories for several months. Their telephones were confiscated and they had no contact with the outside world.
The workers produced counterfeit versions of Paraguayan brands, such as the Tabesa’s TE, Eight and Palermo. Once finished, the cigarettes were transported in trucks, hidden behind shoes.
Paraguay is a major contraband hub in South America. More than 97 percent of cigarettes produced in Paraguay end up in countries such as Brazil. The business is also entangled with money laundering, political corruption and criminal gang activities.
In March of this year, the OCCRP reported on the rescue of 19 Paraguayans trapped in an illegal cigarette factory in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil rescued 918 people working as slaves in the first three months of this year.
November 20, 2023
Finland: Smoke-Free Tax Plans Draw Fire

Photo: Marko Hannula
The Finnish government’s recent proposal to increase taxes on nicotine pouches and vape liquids has drawn criticism from the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA). The current plan would increase the price of one nicotine pouch box by approximately €2.50 ($2.74).
This move, which aims to bring smokeless nicotine products under tobacco taxation, is a significant step backwards in harm reduction efforts, according to the consumer group.
“Finland’s plan to increase taxes on less harmful nicotine alternatives is deeply concerning. Not only does this reduce the price differential between deadly cigarettes and safer alternatives, but it also directly undermines public health goals. By making products like nicotine pouches and vape liquids more expensive, we risk discouraging smokers from switching to these less harmful alternatives,” said WVA Director Michael Landl in a statement.
The proposal, which seeks to amend the law on tobacco taxation, will encompass smoke-free nicotine products, including nicotine pouches and vape liquids. The WVA warns that such tax increases will disproportionately impact low-income groups, who statistically exhibit higher smoking rates.
“Imposing higher taxes on harm reduction products hits the most vulnerable groups the hardest. These are the same groups with the highest smoking rates. Instead of providing them with affordable alternatives to quit smoking, the government is pushing them back to the more harmful habit. This move by the Finnish government is a step in the wrong direction that ignores public health benefits and deepens social inequalities,” said Landl.
The WVA suggested that the Finnish lawmakers don’t need to look far for successful examples of harm reduction. Sweden is on track to become the first smoke-free country because of its progressive harm reduction policies. Earlier this year, Sweden announced a program of lowering tax on snus and nicotine pouches while significantly raising cigarette tax.
November 20, 2023
Thailand Asked to Embrace Alternatives
Asa Saligupta
The director of ENDS Cigarette Smoke Thailand (ECST) has asked the Thai government to pass legislation that encourages smokers to switch to less-harmful methods of nicotine consumption, reports The Inquirer.
Asa Saligupta believes that Thailand’s current restrictions on smoking alternatives are pushing these products underground, resulting in an unregulated market that deprives the government of revenues and forces consumers to keep smoking.
Thailand banned on vapes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems in 2014, resulting in the arrest of local vapers and foreign tourists. Saligupta says the measure has discouraged smokers from switching to potentially less harmful innovative products.
According to Saligupta, Thailand should follow the lead of the Philippines, which passed a law that recognizes tobacco harm reduction as a legitimate tool in the campaign against smoking.
Republic Act 11900, or the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act, became law in 2022. The Vape Law regulates the importation, sale, packaging, distribution, use and communication of vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products and novel tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
Thailand’s vaping regulations are among the strictest in Asia.
November 20, 2023