Category: News This Week

China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration has issued a plan for water resources projects to be carried out by the tobacco industry during 2013-2015, according to a Tobacco China Online story.

The plan seeks to increase significantly the number of such projects and to help establish the tobacco industry’s image as a responsible industry.

The projects will be undertaken in key tobacco-growing regions nationwide, with investment expected to reach Yuan15 billion by 2015.

They will comprise mainly the construction of small reservoirs and irrigation systems that will gradually be amalgamated to form comprehensive systems.

One of the aims of the projects is to help tobacco growers to increase their incomes.

But they are aimed also at helping localities to guard against the dangers of natural disasters.

It is highly unlikely that you will be able to get your hands on a bottle of Aalborg Jule Akvavit in time to welcome in the New Year; so here, courtesy of Iggesund Paperboard, is a picture of one, which might bring some virtual cheer.

In fact, Aalborg Jule Akvavit is a Christmas aquavit that has been produced by the Danish distiller, Danske Spritfabriker (now owned by France’s Pernod Ricard), for the past 31 years, and that is now sold in numbered bottles to underline its limited edition status.

For the second year in a row Aalborg Jule Akvavit has been packaged in a carton made of Invercote from Iggesund Paperboard. Last year the Danish company chose to use Invercote Duo Metalprint, while this year it went with Invercote Duo Aluprint.

The converters are Frontpac, of Lund, Sweden.

‘This year’s edition of Jule Akvavit comes in a new and beautiful blue bottle of a unique design,’ said Iggesund Paperboard in a press note. ‘The elegant shape was inspired by the aquavit itself and is called “The Drop” in an obvious reference to the liquid’s clear drops.

‘Pernod Ricard says Jule Akvavit has become a highly prized collectors’ object around the world. The company receives many phone calls all through the autumn from would-be purchasers who are impatient to see what the latest bottle will look like.’

People in the UK are due to be exposed to a nine-week, £2.7 million propaganda campaign that will focus on a cigarette that develops cancerous tumors.

They will be told that 15 cigarettes cause a mutation that can lead to such tumors.

The Department of Health (DoH) says that the new theme represents a return to hard-hitting health campaigns.

‘The new ads – featuring a tumour growing on a cigarette as it is smoked – are the first shock adverts since the “fatty cigarette” ad eight years ago,’ according to a note posted on the DoH’s website. ‘They aim to encourage people to quit over health concerns, by making the invisible damage visible.

‘The campaign comes in response to statistics that show more than a third of smokers still think the health risks associated with smoking are greatly exaggerated.

‘Designed to show that every cigarette is potentially harmful, the campaign will send a tough message about the dangers of smoking to a new generation of young people – many of whom will never have seen such hard-hitting messaging since they took up the habit.

‘The campaign is supported by a variety of charities including Cancer ResearchUK.

‘Since the last campaign, focusing on the health harms of smoking in 2004, it is estimated that:

* ‘More than 3 million people are estimated (sic) [to] have been admitted to hospital with a smoking related disease – that’s more than 1,000 people each day; and

* More than 570,000 people are estimated (sic) to have died because of a smoking related condition – that’s 195 people each day.’

Indiahas become the sixth largest market for contraband cigarettes, according to an Indo-Asian News Service story quoting a Euromonitor study carried out on behalf of Assocham, a tobacco industry lobbyist.

The licit cigarette market, which stood at 109 billion in 2006-07, dropped to about 101 billion in 2010-11.

In contrast, the duty-evaded segment has grown to about 20 billion cigarettes, or about 16 per cent of the total market for cigarettes, having grown by 82 per cent between 2004 and 2011.

Euromonitor estimates that illicit cigarette volumes inIndiawill grow further, capturing more than 23 per cent of the total market by 2016.

Little wonder. In cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, the trade in contraband cigarettes is said by the study authors to be conducted with ‘brazen openness’. A variety of smuggled brands can be found at almost every cigarette selling outlet and consumers can find their smuggled brand of choice with ease.

The contraband problem is said to be endemic toIndiabut to be especially severe in urban areas.

Contraband cigarettes are smuggled into India from China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Gulf states, and Southeast Asian and European countries.

‘Clearly, the drive to curb the entry of contraband cigarettes into India needs to be undertaken in a more stringent, sustained and organized manner,’ the study says.

The TFWA (Tax Free World Association) says that registration is now open for a conference on China to be held at Beijing in March.

‘China’s century: The fast pace of change in China duty free & travel retail’ is due to be held at the Beijing Hotel on March 5-7.

Organised jointly by the TFWA and APTRA (Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association), the event is due to bring together ‘a wealth of international and local expertise, including some of the most influential figures in Chinese duty free and travel retail’.

More information about the conference is at: http://www.tfwa.com/duty_free/China-s-Century-Conference.17.0.html.

More details are emerging about China’s plans – reported here on December 24 – to crack down on tobacco.

The country is looking to reduce the area planted to tobacco along with the number of tobacco farms, ban tobacco smoking in all enclosed public places, and enlarge the warning signs on tobacco packs by 2015, according to a Wantchinatimes.com story quoting the Beijing Times.

The plan says also that China will reduce the number of tobacco companies operating in the country and the number of brands on sale in an effort further to unify the tobacco industry.

China already bans direct tobacco advertisements but the latest plan would specifically ban advertisements on the internet and on public transport, and in public places including museums, libraries, hospitals and schools. It would forbid tobacco companies from promoting their products through charitable, social or environmental activities. And tobacco-related trademarks would be banned from movies and television programs.

Health warnings, which are on the back of packs, would be increased from 30 per cent to 50 per cent of the surface area.

The value of South Korea’s tobacco exports increased by 370 per cent during the past 10 years while imports remained steady, resulting in a tobacco trade surplus since 2004, according to a story in The Korea Times.

Ninety seven per cent of tobacco exports comprise cigarettes.

In 2002, Korea’s tobacco imports amounted to more than double its exports but, by last year, exports had risen to be 1.7 times higher than its imports, data from the Korea Customs Service (KCS) has shown.

“Much of the domestic demand for imported manufactured tobacco appears to have been replaced by demand for Korean-made products as their quality improved,” said a KCS official.

In 2002, more than three quarters of the tobacco imported byKorea was in the form of manufactured products, but this share fell to about 40 per cent last year, with the rest comprising unmanufactured leaf tobacco.

Meanwhile, the Yonhap News Agency said that the value of exports had increased from US$156.29 million to US$572.05 million during the 10 year period.

Sales of licit tobacco products are reported to have slumped by as much as 40 per cent in Macau this year as a ‘hefty’ tax increase and anti-smoking campaigns have taken their toll, according to a Macau Daily Times story.

The industry, which is expecting a further decline of 10 per cent during 2013, is preparing to cut its operational costs if necessary.

But the industry has stressed that it is too early to say if the government’s aggressive anti-smoking measures will result in any significant drop in the number of smokers, despite the dramatic fall in sales.

The government increased taxes by two-and-half times at the end of last year and many smokers simply switched to buying cigarettes on the mainland of China.

Police and customs officials have visited Imperial Tobacco’s fine-cut tobacco factory in Ireland at the invitation of Imperial and as part of ongoing efforts to tackle the illicit trade in tobacco products.

‘To aid them in their investigations, a group of 10 enforcement officers toured the Mullingar plant to see how legitimate tobacco products are made,’ Imperial said in a note posted on its website.

‘The visitors were shown all aspects of the manufacturing process from the bales of raw tobacco being received to packaged Golden Virginia and Drum leaving the warehouse.

‘Authorities suspect illicit factories have been set up on both sides of the Irish border due to the large amounts of unprocessed tobacco seizures in recent months.’

“The officers found our knowledge and expertise really useful and hopefully we will hear of additional seizures and prosecutions in the future,” said factory manager, Declan Hughes.

Meanwhile, Carl Philips, AIT executive in Ireland, said that building good relations with those who are hunting out Imperial’s criminal competitors was an integral part of the company’s anti-illicit trade strategy.

The government of Bangladesh intends to expand cotton growing at the expense of tobacco production, according to a New Age story.

Farid Uddin, a director of the Cotton Development Board (CDB), was quoted as saying that 20,000 ha of the 70,000 ha now planted to tobacco would be given over to cotton cultivation.

The government wants to help the country reduce its dependence on cotton imports for meeting the growing demand of its textile sector.

Opposing the CDB plan, experts at the tobacco wing of the department of agricultural extension said farmers would not be willing to cultivate cotton instead of tobacco on land where currently 2-3 crops were grown in a year.

The initiative is not expected to go down well with farmers, too, because tobacco manufacturers tend to provide loans, fertilizers and seeds.