Zambia’s finance minister, Bwalya Ng’andu, officially opened a new British American Tobacco (BAT) cigarette factory in Lusaka.
Ng’andu said the $25 million facility represents the kind of development the government is determined to have because it enhances the inflow of foreign direct investment.
Ng’andu urged BAT to engage the domestic agriculture sector and create linkages to reduce imports of tobacco.
BAT Zambia General Manager Kimesh Naidoo said the Zambian market holds potential for creating more upstream and downstream employment through the tobacco industry development.
The tobacco sector supports the livelihoods of an estimated 500,000 farmers in Zambia.
Thailand’s Criminal Court on Nov. 29 fined Philip Morris (Thailand) THB1.2 billion ($39.63 million) for evading taxes.
Filed by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) in January 2016, the lawsuit charged Philip Morris with evading taxes by under-declaring the value of cigarettes it imported from the Philippines from 2003 to 2006.
According to the OAG, Philip Morris set the price of imported L&M cigarettes at THB5.88 while other importers declared the same brand of cigarettes at THB16.81 per pack. The firm also declared the cost, insurance and freight rate on Marlboro from the Philippines at THB7.76 per pack, lower than the THB27.46 reported by other importers.
The under-declaration cost the government more than THB20 billion in tax collections, according to the complaint.
Philip Morris denies the charges.
Gerald Margolis, Philip Morris International’s managing director for Thailand and Indochina, said the company will appeal the case, citing an earlier World Trade Organization ruling that Philip Morris (Thailand) had followed Thai laws related to prices and import tax declaration.
British American Tobacco (BAT) is creating three global brands for its “new category” product portfolio: Vuse for vapor products; Velo for modern oral products and Glo for tobacco heating products.
According to BAT, this move will simplify the consumer experience around the world, helping easier navigation of the company’s product portfolio, while portfolio focus will drive greater awareness and resonance amongst adult consumers.
“We understand global brands are important for our worldwide consumers—brands that they can trust, recognize and buy wherever they are in the world,” said BAT Chief Marketing Officer Kingsley Wheaton.
Vuse, which has thus far been available only in the United States, will make its international debut in the United Arab Emirates in early 2020.
In anticipation of the launch, the Vuse logo featured on the McLaren Formula One race car during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Dec. 1.
Marshall B. Bass, a retired senior vice president at RJR Nabisco, died Nov. 26 after a long illness at his home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA, reports The Winston-Salem Journal. He was 93.
After joining R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in 1968, Bass rose through the management ranks and became the first black person elected as an executive in what was then R.J. Reynolds Industries Inc.
Bass retired as senior vice president for global public relations for the company, which was then known as RJR Nabisco Inc.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has filed for substantive scientific review the premarket tobacco product applications (PMTA) that was recently submitted by Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) for Vuse vapor products.
“This is a first-of-its-kind application for Vuse products, and it puts Vuse one step closer to gaining a marketing order from the FDA,” said RAI CEO Ricardo Oberlander.
“FDA will now review our scientific justification and determine the appropriateness of Vuse e-cigarette products against the public health standard.”
The Vuse application comprises more than 150,000 pages of research and data, according to RAI.
According to RAI Executive Vice President James Figlar, the company surveyed current tobacco users to understand product use behavior and demographics, conducted behavioral studies of current and non-users of tobacco to gauge consumer understanding of risks and interest in product use, and performed statistical population modeling to project the effect on the population as a whole.
In addition, the RAI conducted clinical studies that looked at the abuse potential of Vuse products, which included examining nicotine pharmacokinetics, as well as conducted several studies to examine the aerosol properties of the products and the temperature during use.
Security and anti-counterfeiting solution provider De La Rue expressed concern about its future after it reported a pretax loss of £12.8 million in the first half of 2019, reports The Guardian.
Shares in the Basingstoke, U.K.-based business plunged by a fifth after it said there was “material uncertainty that casts significant doubt on the group’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
The statement follows a series of setbacks including two profit warnings, an investigation into suspected corruption in South Sudan and its failure to win a £490 million contract to print the U.K.’s post-Brexit blue passport. In May, it wrote off £18 million after Venezuela’s central bank failed to pay its bills.
De La Rue prints banknotes for more than 100 central banks, including the Bank of England. In early 2019, it signed a £3.5 million contract with Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs to implement a track and trace system for all tobacco products sold in the U.K
De La Rue blamed its poor performance on the departure of top bosses, including its chief executive, adding that major changes to its turnaround plan meant the program was not delivered as originally planned.
The company said it is now focused on delivering a turnaround plan under its new chief executive, Clive Vacher, who was appointed last month.
De La Rue employs more than 2,500 people globally.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker on Wednesday signed into law severe restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco and vapor products, making his state the first to enact such stringent controls, reports National Public Radio.
Set to take effect on June 1, 2020, the law limits the sale of flavored nicotine vaping products, including menthol, “to licensed smoking bars where they may only be smoked on-site.”
The same restrictions apply to all other flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and flavored chewing tobacco.
The legislation also imposes a 75 percent excise tax on e-cigarettes.
“It’s pretty clear there isn’t going to be a federal policy on this anytime soon,” Baker said at the signing. “So in the absence of that, we had to act.”
Vapor businesses in Massachusetts have been protesting the restrictions since they were first proposed.
“The people that were applauding the governor the loudest were the criminals and gangs that already operated in the states illegal black market,” Jon Shaer, executive director of the New England Convenience Store & Energy Marketers Association, was quoted as saying.
LLFlex has added three senior-level business development executives to its staff.
Jonathan Laverick has joined LLFlex as director of business development, EMEA. In this position, Laverick is responsible for identifying and securing new business opportunities and working with existing customers and representatives in Europe across LLFlex’s core marketplaces.
Prior to joining LLFlex, Laverick spent six years as commercial director, Europe, for Sharp Packaging Solutions. Previously he worked for Alcoa/Reynolds Packaging and Alcan Packaging.
Christine Shirreffs has been named director of business development, Americas. Shirreffs will help expand LLFlex’s market share in the tobacco, healthcare and other consumer markets as part of its packaging segment. Most recently, Shirreffs spent 6.5 years as a sales representative in Printpack’s flexible packaging sector.
LLFlex has hired Christine Lovett as a business development manager for the company’s wire and cable solutions, part of its industrial laminates segment. Prior to joining LLFlex, Lovett spent more than a decade as an account manager for Sonoco Products and several years at Zumbach Electronics.
LLFlex is a leader in packaging materials and industrial laminate solutions for various industries. The company is North America’s largest supplier of cigarette inner bundling material, as well as custom-printed laminations for cigar, pipe and smokeless tobacco.
The company has operations in Kentucky and North Carolina.
U.S. Health officials have found more evidence implicating vitamin E acetate in the recent outbreak of vaping-related illnesses, reports AP.
Researchers compared black market vaping cartridges seized in Minnesota during the outbreak this year with vaping liquid seized in that state last year. The newer cartridges contained the compound vitamin E acetate, but none of the older samples did.
They also looked at vaping cartridges collected from a dozen patients. Vitamin E acetate was commonly found in those, too.
The study echoes other work that found the substance in the damaged lungs of 29 patients across the U.S.
“The findings further support a potential role for vitamin E acetate in causing lung injury associated with vaping products,” said Ruth Lynfield, a Minnesota health official.
The Supreme Court of Kenya on Tuesday dismissed a challenge by British American Tobacco (BAT) to regulations that charge the tobacco industry a fee to help compensate people affected by smoking, reports AP.
BAT had argued that the 2 percent fee was vague because it was unclear whether it would be imposed on the raw material or the final product.
The justices ruled the regulations conform to the constitution and its goal of protecting the lives of Kenyans.
“The limitation has to be weighed against the larger society,” said Justice Njoki Ndungu. “There is no way regulations can be made without considering the health of the people.”
Tobacco advocacy groups celebrated the judgment. “The Supreme Court’s decision is a resounding victory for public health and allows the government to implement a law that will help protect Kenyans from the devastating consequences of tobacco use,” said Bintou Camara Bityeki, director of Africa programs, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
