India exported tobacco and tobacco products worth $846 million during 2021–2022, reports The Hindu.
In terms of quantity, value in rupees and value in U.S. dollars, exports grew 1.35 percent, 5.91 percent and 5.34 percent, respectively, according to A. Sridhar Babu, executive director of the Indian Tobacco Board.
Flue-cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco accounted for the majority of unmanufactured tobacco exports, representing 53.62 percent in terms of quantity and 68.47 percent in terms of value.
India is the world’s fourth-largest producer of FCV tobacco and third-largest exporter, selling its leaf to more than 50 countries.
According to Babu, the crop in the southern region of Andhra Pradesh was severely affected by Cyclone Mandous in December 2022, forcing some farmers to replant their tobacco.
In response, the Ministry of Commerce extended interest-free loans to the growers participating in the Tobacco Board’s Growers’ Welfare Fund Scheme.
Banning menthol cigarettes does not lead more smokers to purchase menthols from illicit sources, according to a new research study published in Tobacco Control.
Researchers at the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Waterloo evaluated the impact of federal and provincial menthol cigarette bans in Canada by surveying smokers of menthol and nonmenthol cigarettes before and after Canada’s menthol ban.
Smokers were asked whether their usual cigarette brand was menthol-flavored and to report their last brand purchased. Those who were still smoking after the menthol ban were also asked where they last purchased their cigarettes.
Results showed that after the ban, there was no significant change in the purchase of cigarettes from First Nations reserves, the main source of illicit cigarettes in Canada.
“The tobacco industry has a long history of claiming that policies to reduce smoking will lead to substantial increases in illicit trade,” said Janet Chung-Hall, a research scientist for ITC and lead author of the new study, in a statement. “We can add the Canadian menthol ban to the long list of effective policies, such as graphic warnings and plain packaging, whose evaluation disproved the scare tactics by industry—showing that illicit trade did not, in fact, increase.”
A 2022 study that combined the ITC project data with data from a comparable Ontario evaluation study showed that the Canadian menthol ban led to an increase of 7.3 percent in quitting among menthol smokers above that of nonmenthol smokers. Projecting this effect to the U.S., whose Food and Drug Administration has proposed its own menthol ban, the ITC researchers estimate that a U.S. menthol ban would lead 1.33 million smokers to quit.
“Our previous research from Canada and the Netherlands showed that a menthol cigarette ban leads to significant reductions in smoking,” said Geoffrey Fong, principal investigator of the ITC project and professor of psychology and public health sciences at Waterloo. “These findings combine to provide powerful evidence in support of FDA’s proposed menthol ban.”
Tobacco-related products were among the 10 fastest-growing technologies in 2022 when measured by the number of U.S. patents issued, according to IFI Claims Patent Services.
Philip Morris International, which is in the process of replacing its combustible cigarette business with less harmful smoking alternatives, was the most prolific claimant in the tobacco business, filing 1,364 cigarette patent applications in 2022.
South Korean electronics titan Samsung took the top spot from longtime leader IBM. Following Samsung and IBM, the top 10 patent earners were Taiwan Semiconductor, Huawei Technologies, Canon, LG Electronics, Qualcomm, Intel, Apple and Toyota Motor.
Technology related to autonomous vehicles ascended to the No. 1 spot among IFI’s Fastest-Growing Technologies list last year. While “Computing Based on Biological Models” dropped to No. 4 from its perch at No. 1 last year, artificial intelligence research has pervaded multiple patent categories, including earth drilling, quantum computers and machine learning.
Rounding out the top fastest-growing technologies were “Electrical Digital Data Processing,” with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.9 percent; “Special Features Related to Earth Drilling Including AI and Simulation Models” (CAGR of 32.5 percent); “Computing Based on Biological Models” (CAGR of 32.1 percent); and “Electrically Operated Smoking Devices” (CAGR of 31.3 percent).
“Cigars, Cigarettes” registered a CAGR of 28.3 percent.
New Zealand’s government is seeking feedback on measures to help reduce the number of young people vaping, reports The Times Online.
According to Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall, vaping is becoming increasingly popular among New Zealand youth, including among youngsters who have never smoked.
“Vaping has a role to play in ensuring smokers who wish to quit smoking can do so using vaping products; however, youth vaping rates are too high, and we need to strike a better balance,” she was quoted as saying.
The proposed measures include proximity restrictions for all new specialist vape retailers, so they are not near schools and sports grounds; restrictions on flavor names to avoid attracting youth; and restrictions on single-use vaping products, which are cheaper and more easily accessible than other e-cigarettes.
In addition, the government wants to reduce the maximum concentration of nicotine salts in single-use products from 50 mg/mL to 35 mg/mL and require vaping companies to print serial or batch numbers on their products to make them traceable.
The consultation document is available on the Ministry of Health website with submissions closing at 5 p.m. on March 15.
Parkside Flexibles has appointed Ian Dewar as business unit manager for its Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, operation.
Dewar’s substantial knowledge of materials, additives and coating formulations will provide Parkside customers with the expertise to develop packaging that balances plastic reduction with barrier performance, all while complying with relevant legislation.
“We are delighted to welcome Ian to our growing team in the region. This is an exciting time for our business as we strive to meet the evolving needs of APAC [Asia-Pacific] customers and consumers, and we expect Ian, with the extensive experience he has gathered throughout his career, will play a big part in that aim,” said Paula Birch, managing director of Parkside Asia.
“2022 has been a big year for flexible packaging in the region following key carbon commitments from the Chinese government, the Indian government’s single-use plastic ban, and many more legislative changes. Ian’s experience puts Parkside in the strongest position for APAC customers seeking to improve their sustainable packaging portfolio with high-performance flexible packaging solutions.”
“There are many challenges to overcome and opportunities to make the most of in the APAC region, and I’m ready to roll my sleeves up and deliver for our customers in 2023,” said Dewar.
With sites in the U.K. and Malaysia, Parkside employs almost 200 staff worldwide.
Lusia McAnna, deputy chair of Women in Tobacco (WIT) and former managing director of Pinpoint Technologies, passed away Dec. 19, 2022, after a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer.
McAnna was born in Sheffield in 1955 to Czeslaw and Aniela Zychowicz. During World War II, her grandmother, mother and four aunts were deported from Poland to labor camps in Siberia. After two years of hardship, the family escaped and eventually settled in Britain. Of the 1.7 million Poles deported to Russia, only one-third survived, so McAnna was not exaggerating when she said, “I come from a family of tough women.”
McAnna grew up speaking Polish and English, encountered Spanish when the family followed her father’s work to Colombia for three years, and went on to study Spanish and Russian at Bradford University.
Her languages, along with her determination, equipped her for a career in international sales. Despite the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated—and at times toxic—business culture, she quickly made a name for herself at Scandura Textiles.
In 1995, McAnna established PinPoint Technologies, a manufacturer of garniture tapes based in West Auckland, England. While it was clear that the industry would benefit from another source of quality tapes, McAnna knew that convincing the conservative tobacco business to try a new supplier would be a tall order.
With a combination of persistence, a highly skilled workforce and a relentless commitment to customer service, McAnna and her colleagues placed PinPoint firmly on the tobacco business map. “It took more than five years to get our tapes tested in some companies who now buy 100 percent from us,” she told Tobacco Reporter during a 2011 interview. Fittingly, Pinpoint adopted Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” as its company song.
With her friend Elise Rasmussen, she established and ran WIT, an organization that continues to provide hundreds of women with opportunities for networking, mentoring and socializing.
At work, McAnna was as at ease with local staff from the Shildon area as she was with customers from the United States, Turkiye, Japan and elsewhere. When Pinpoint Technologies eventually closed, McAnna fought for a good redundancy package and offered valuable career advice to her employees.
To climb the ladder as a woman in business, McAnna once told a WIT audience, you need to be committed and work extremely hard. To prosper and stay sane, however, you also need a strong sense of humor and take time to de-stress. “If it stops being fun, get out and do something else, as life is much too short to waste,” she noted.
Imperial Brands has selected Blue Yonder as its end-to-end supply chain solutions provider.
Among other things, Blue Yonder’s solutions will provide Imperial with a holistic and connected view of its end-to-end supply chain planning processes, offering strategic scenario planning, demand forecasting and supply chain and inventory optimization. Imperial will be able to evaluate and execute connected planning scenarios and use prescriptive recommendations to make more accurate inventory decisions to improve the customer experience.
“As our industry continues to evolve, so must our company, and supply chain is one of our core transformation areas. Our strategy is to drive an end-to-end supply chain integration across our planning, logistics and retail operations, and we have chosen to do this with Blue Yonder as our supply chain solutions provider,” Javier Huerta, chief supply chain officer at Imperial Brands, was quoted as saying in a Blue Yonder press note.
“Imperial was looking for a supply chain solutions provider to lead and transform their business. We are proud that they have chosen Blue Yonder to guide them on this journey,” said Phillip Teschemacher, Blue Yonder’s corporate vice president of manufacturing for EMEA.
Campaigners have slammed the suggestion that a future Labour government could ban the sale of cigarettes to eradicate smoking by 2030.
Speaking to the BBC, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said Labour would consult on banning the sale of cigarettes.
Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ rights group Forest, condemned the idea.
“The health risks of smoking are well known, but it’s a legitimate habit that millions of adults enjoy,” he said. “Banning the sale of cigarettes to future generations won’t stop people smoking. It would merely drive the sale of tobacco underground and into the hands of criminal gangs.”
Clark pointed out that current U.K. smoking rates are the lowest on record and an increasing number of smokers are switching voluntarily to reduced-risk products like e-cigarettes without government intervention.
“Given all the problems facing the NHS [National Health Service] and the country at large, it’s laughable to think that tackling smoking might be considered a priority for a future Labour government,” said Clark.
During the BBC interview, Streeting said more radical options were needed as the U.K. was set to miss its target of being “smoke-free” by 2030.
“One of the things that was recommended to the government in one of their own reviews was phasing out the sale of cigarettes altogether over time. We will be consulting on that and a whole range of other measures,” said Streeting.
Streeting said he would pay close attention to the results of a recently announced law in New Zealand that makes it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009.
Under the new rules, which take effect this year, the country’s smoking age of 18 would be raised year by year until it applied to the whole population. Beginning in 2023, those under 15 would be barred from buying cigarettes for the rest of their lives.
“I am genuinely curious,” he said. “If we are going to get the NHS back on track, we need to focus on public health.”
Streeting’s comments follow a review ordered by Sajid Javid when he was health secretary, which listed 15 measures to give the U.K. its “best chance” of hitting a national target of making the U.K. smoke-free by 2030.
Estonia banned imports of cigars, cigarillos and cigarettes from Russia on Jan. 9 in compliance with EU sanctions relating to the war in Ukraine, reports Interfax.
“On 9 January, the transitional period for sanctions imposed by the European Union on a number of consumer goods originating in the Russian Federation will end, and their import into the European Union will be prohibited from Monday,” the Estonian Tax and Customs Board said in a statement.
“As from 9 January, the transitional period will also end for those sanctioned goods for which supply contracts were concluded before 7 October.”
The import ban covers a broad selection of consumer goods, including cosmetics, washing and cleaning products, clothes and footwear.
The prohibited items must be abandoned by the traveler on the border or risk confiscation, the board said.
Chinese e-cigarette manufacturers are expanding into Indonesia to better serve export markets.
By Yutong Song and Alan Zhao
China’s rules for the vaping industry are stringent. They do, however, allow leniency for most exports. There is one rule, though, that can make shipping product to some countries nearly impossible: China’s regulations state that all products produced for export must comply with the regulations and laws in the destination country, according to 2FIRSTS, a vaping industry vertical media firm. If a country does not regulate e-cigarettes, China’s rules for vaping products would apply to those exports, including bans on flavors and synthetic nicotine.
To better serve countries that have not yet created regulations for electronic nicotine-delivery system products, manufacturers are opening factories outside of China. Many of those companies are moving into Indonesia where there are more than 70 million combustible cigarette smokers. The preference of Chinese manufacturers for Indonesia is also evident from a set of recent news headlines:
“Jinjia Group’s manufacturing base in Indonesia to provide integrated e-cigarette services.”
“Smoore Technology Indonesia (STI), a subsidiary of one of the largest e-cigarette manufacturers, has invested $80 million to establish e-cigarette factories in Indonesia.”
“The Indonesian factory of Zhijing Precision, an e-cigarette assembly supplier, is to be operational by 2022.”
The cost factors, such as land and labor, make Indonesia the first choice for e-cigarette companies setting up abroad, but the country has more to offer. Garindra Kartasasmita, secretary general of the Indonesian Vapor Entrepreneurs Association, mentioned in his keynote speech at the IECIE Vape Show that the Indonesian vaping market has been growing since 2013, with an annual rate of 50 percent except for the year 2021, when it shrank by 7 percent due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is expected to rebound to 50 percent growth in 2022.
Integration of Production and Sales
Indonesia is ripe for helping to grow vaping businesses and boost the harm reduction potential of vaping products. One major advantage of moving e-cigarette production into Indonesia is the ease of integration and sales offered by the country’s large population. With 280 million people, Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country, accounting for 40 percent of all people in Southeast Asia. Moreover, Indonesia has 70.2 million smokers, which translates into a smoking rate of 34 percent.
The presence of so many nicotine consumers means e-cigarettes produced in Indonesia could also be sold domestically. Indonesia’s regulatory environment is conducive to the marketing of nicotine products that present lower risks than combustible cigarettes. Indonesia is the only country in Southeast Asia that allows tobacco advertising on television and in the media. It also has a place for e-cigarette bloggers and cross-category blogging, such as beauty and skin care. Indonesia has the second-highest number of posts on Instagram sharing vaping and related devices among all countries.
E-cigarette brands can be imported and sold in Indonesia only if they are recommended by the country’s National Agency of Drug and Food Control (part of the Ministry of Health) and the Ministry of Industry. Additionally, the products must be certified by the Indonesian National Standard. The policies are a positive for Chinese e-cigarette manufacturers.
Commenting on Smoore’s plant in Indonesia, Bahlil Lahadalia, Indonesia’s investment minister and director of the Investment Coordinating Board, publicly stated, “We need cooperation, we need jobs, we need opportunities that will make our brothers owners of our country.” And Clayton Shen, president of Smoore Indonesia, expressed his gratitude for the support of the Indonesian government, including the tariff-free incentives granted by the Ministry of Investment for the company’s much-needed machinery that needed to be imported.
Challenges Ahead
There are some challenges in the Indonesian market, however. Although the Indonesian market represents a large pie for Chinese manufacturers, it is not easy to navigate the market. A well-known Chinese e-cigarette manufacturer intending to build a factory in Indonesia revealed to 2FIRSTS that logistics is a problem for manufacturers, and currently no good solution is available.
For example, if the end products are filled and assembled in China and then sent to Indonesia, the amount of time the products could be held at customs is unpredictable. “I had a batch of goods that arrived at customs the end of last month, but they are still in customs as of the 20th of this month,” the manufacturer said. “If it was assembled in Indonesia and sent from the Indonesian factory, the time difference in delivery is not much different from if it were delivered from China.”
There is also a lack of e-cigarette machinery. Another vaping product manufacturer told 2FIRSTS that “there’s a critical lack of tools and machinery to keep pace with the production lines. Should factories be built here, machinery must be transported from China, which is a critical problem to tackle. It’s a misconception that the only shortage we would face is raw materials.”
There is also a “workers’ gap” that can often create staff training and production concerns. In addition to overcoming cultural and geographical challenges when training local workers, it’s difficult to have the workers adapt to the Chinese style of work, which is very dedicated and focused on teamwork. An insider told 2FIRSTS that some workers have a “casual attitude to being late.” He said that he had to create numerous incentives to discourage employees from being late for work and/or going home early. “This is very different from the Chinese work habits,” he said.
Migration or Spillover
Shenzhen is considered the vaping capital of the world. Located just north of Hong Kong, the city designs and manufactures an estimated 90 percent of the world’s vaping and e-cigarette devices. There are more than 1,000 factories and thousands of support companies that form the supply chain throughout Guangdong Province and the rest of China.
A joint report from the E-Cigarette Professional Committee of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce and 2FIRSTS anticipates the global e-cigarette market to grow by 35 percent in 2022. The total market is expected to exceed $108 billion. In 2021, China’s total e-cigarette exports were $19.8 billion and were expected to reach $26.7 billion in 2022. The expansion of China’s e-cigarette industry from Shenzhen to Indonesia can more accurately be described as “spillover” rather than “migration.”
Just because Shenzhen’s e-cigarette manufacturing hub status is unshakable in the short term does not mean that the global manufacturing layout is cast in stone. In fact, over the past five years, the country’s e-cigarette industry has spilled from the city into China’s Greater Bay Area. We have seen spillover from Shajing of the Bao’an District of Shenzhen to the Dongguan area and in between.
This spillover has not affected the development of China’s electronic cigarette industry, however. During the same time, there was also a period of rapid industrial growth and improvements on the supply chain side of the industry.
In a recent interview, 2FIRSTS co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Echo Guo said that years of development not only granted the Bao’an District of Shenzhen a number of e-cigarette enterprises but also brought together supporting supply chains, including industrial design, molds, batteries and other essential needs for manufacturing vaping products. “Here to there is a ‘two-hour traffic circle’ within the whole e-cigarette industry, with all of its subbranches cooperating closely,” said Guo. “Even when the manufacturers and customers exchange new ideas, it would take less than two hours to get a prototype ready.”
The spillover of China’s e-cigarette industry to Indonesia can also be seen as the absorption and utilization of manufacturing resources by China’s e-cigarette industry, which has broken the boundary of China’s Greater Bay Area and extended to a broader region of the Asia-Pacific. The entire region will now have the opportunity to create greater economic success through the growth of the e-cigarette and vaping industry.
