The share of illicit products on Pakistan’s tobacco market is expected to reach 56 percent by the end of 2024, reports Ary News.
According to a recent Ipsos survey, more than 165 brands of cigarettes are being sold in the country without tax stamps, depriving the government of PKR 300 billion in annual tax revenue.
In addition, 104 cigarette brands are being sold below the minimum price.
The shift toward duty-free and smuggled cigarette brands is facilitated by the availability of larger pack sizes and exacerbates the issue of tax evasion, according to the publication.
Stakeholders have been calling for stricter enforcement of existing regulations, enhanced enforcement and new tax policies.
The French film director Antoine Raimbault has released a movie about disgraced European Commissioner John Dalli, who was stripped of his role after the EU’s anti-fraud agency claimed he had failed to declare a tobacco-related bribery attempt, reports Malta Today.
The case dates from 2012, when Dalli’s aide Silvio Zammit allegedly tried to obtain a €60 million ($71.17 million) bribe from Swedish Match to reverse the EU ban on snus. The company rejected the offer as improper and reported it to the European Commission.
Une Affaire dePrincipe–marketed as Smoke Signals in English–recounts the story from the point of view of one of Dalli’s sole champions at the time, Jose Bove, a French farmer and member of the European Parliament for the Green party who is perhaps best known for dismantling a McDonald’s franchise in 1999 to protest new U.S. restrictions on importing Roquefort cheese and to raise awareness about McDonald’s’ use of hormone-treated beef.
Bove suspects Dalli’s defenestration was related to the tobacco industry’s desire to postpone the Tobacco Products Directive.
John Dalli, who has occupied no political post since his ouster from Brussels in October 2012, has always protested his innocence, claiming he was unaware of Zammit’s actions.
JT International USA (JTI USA) will relocate its U.S. headquarters from Teaneck, New Jersey to Raleigh, North Carolina.
The headquarters will open later this year in One North Hills Tower at North Hill in Midtown Raleigh.
“It’s great to see another international company choose North Carolina for its top-flight workforce, number one business environment and extraordinary quality of life,” said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper in a statement.
JTI’s group of companies currently operates a tobacco buying station in Wilson, North Carolina, and contracts with hundreds of farms in the state.
“We are proud to welcome JTI’s leadership and headquarters to North Carolina,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “As a leading buyer of North Carolina tobacco, this move to Wake County is a great sign of their long-term interest in working with our growers and will help us further build on this important trade partnership.”
“I am pleased to welcome JTI and the more than 100 high-paying jobs they are bringing to Raleigh,” said Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin. “Their decision to move their headquarters here clearly demonstrates the quality of life we offer and the quality of our talent pool. We wish them much success in the future.”
“We are very excited to be joining Raleigh’s diverse community. Raleigh is an ideal location for our new headquarters because it is a vibrant and growing city with a top of its class talent pool for recruitment of new employees,” said JTI USA General Manager and President Corrado Mautone.
JTI USA sells brands such as LD, Wave, Wings and Export A. The company employs more than 250 people across the U.S.
Marlboro Amber HeatSticks (formerly named Marlboro HeatSticks)
Marlboro Green Menthol HeatSticks (formerly named Marlboro Smooth Menthol HeatSticks)
Marlboro Blue Menthol HeatSticks (formerly named Marlboro Fresh Menthol HeatSticks)
In 2020 and 2022, the FDA issued modified risk granted orders for products. These orders are valid for a fixed time period. To continue marketing the MRTPs after the authorized term, the company submitted MRTP renewal applications to FDA.
Starting May 10, 2024, people may submit public comments on these applications on regulations.gov to docket FDA-2021-N-0408 for the IQOS 3.0 device and docket FDA-2017-D-3001 for the IQOS 2.4 device and the Marlboro HeatSticks products.
The FDA will post application documents, including amendments; given that the documents will need to be redacted for any confidential information, they will be posted on the Center for Tobacco Products’ website on a rolling basis.
Once all materials for these MRTP applications, including amendments, have been made publicly available, FDA will announce a closing date for the comment period. The closing date will be no earlier than 180 days from the date of the Federal Register notice and at least 30 days from the date FDA posts the last application materials.
Japan Tobacco’s revenue increased by 11.3 percent to ¥740.3 billion ($4.75 billion), year-on-year, in the first quarter of 2024. Core revenue at constant currency exchange rates rose by 5.7 percent to ¥676.7 billion while adjusted operating profit at constant exchange rates increased by 3.4 percent to ¥231 billion.
On a reported basis, adjusted operating profit increased by 1.5 percent to ¥226.7 billion. Operating profit increased by 4.6 percent to ¥215.8 billion, and profit increased by 8.7 percent to ¥157.3 billion.
“The JT Group delivered robust results in the first quarter,” said President and CEO Masamichi Terabatake in a statement. “GFB [global flagship brands] volume growth and solid pricing, as well as RRP [reduced-risk product]-related revenue increasing by double-digits in the tobacco business, continued to drive the strong performance of the group.”
“RRP volume increased by 25.2 percent year-on-year, mainly driven by the HTS [heated-tobacco sticks] segment, which is our investment priority. Geo-expansion of Ploom X is on track; we have completed launches in four additional markets year-to-date. With plans to launch in four more markets by June, we are making good progress to deliver our ambitions set for 2028.”
Philip Morris International held its 2024 annual meeting of shareholders on May 8. Andre Calantzopoulos, executive chairman of the board, addressed shareholders and answered questions. CEO Jacek Olczak gave a business presentation commenting on PMI’s 2023 performance and progress in its transformation to a smoke-free business.
“Our strategy to become a smoke-free company has enabled us to build and sustain strong momentum, resulting in smoke-free products reaching nearly 40 percent of our total net revenues and over 40 percent of our gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2023,” said Olczak in a statement.
“As a global smoke-free champion with leading brands IQOS and Zyn, we are well positioned to further accelerate our transformation in the years to come, to the benefit of the company, our shareholders, other stakeholders and public health.”
Approximately 80 percent of the shares entitled to vote were represented at the meeting in person or by proxy. The shareholders elected 12 nominees for director; approved, on an advisory basis, the compensation of named executive officers; and ratified the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers as independent auditors.
Procigar has elected Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana as its new president and Ciro Cascella as its new vice president, according to the Premium Cigar Association. Hendrik Kelner was named president for life due to his dedication to the development of the organization.
Procigar was formed in 1992 by a group of cigar makers in the Dominican Republic. The goal of this group is to protect the reputation and future of the Dominican Republic’s tobacco industry by setting and maintaining high standards of quality and preserving the heritage of their country’s premium cigar and tobacco culture.
Members of Procigar include General Cigar Dominicana, La Aurora, Quesada Cigars Oettigner Davidoff, Tabacalera de Garcia, Tabadom Holding, De Los Reyes Cigars, Tabacalera Arturo Fuente, Tabacalera La Alianza, La Flor Dominicana, Oe Tabacalera Palma, PDR Cigars and Arnold Andre.
Each year, the Procigar hosts an international festival in the Dominican Republic celebrating the country’s cigar culture and tobacco industry.
Marina Murphy is a scientific communications and engagement expert with more than 20 years of experience.
Scientists should be aware of the “illusions of understanding” when relying on artificial intelligence for their research, warned Marina Murphy, industry veteran and scientific adviser to the U.K. Vaping Industry Association.
A recent study, published in Scientific Reports, claims to have uncovered potentially harmful substances that are produced when e-liquids in vaping devices are heated for inhalation.
The research team at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, used artificial intelligence to simulate the effects of heating e-liquid flavor chemicals found in nicotine vapes.
The analysis revealed the formation of many hazardous chemicals, including 127 that are classified as “acute toxic,” 153 as “health hazards” and 225 as “irritants.” Notably, these included a group of chemicals called volatile carbonyls (VCs), which are known to pose health risks. Sources for VCs were predicted to be the most popular fruit-flavored, candy-flavored and dessert-flavored products.
Lead author Donal O’Shea, professor of chemistry and head of the department, said the findings are concerning. “Our findings indicate a significantly different profile of chemical hazards compared to what we are familiar with from traditional tobacco smoking. It is plausible that we are on the cusp of a new wave of chronic diseases that will emerge 15 [years] to 20 years from now due to these exposures.”
Murphy countered that the effects of overheating e-liquids have been studied extensively. “This can lead to the production of carbonyls, for example, but these compounds make the vapor so caustic as to be un-inhalable,” she wrote in response to the RCSI study. “Newer e-cigarette devices are designed with built-in temperature control systems.”
She warned that “scary headlines” could prompt smokers thinking of switching to less harmful e-cigarettes to stick with conventional cigarettes instead.
“Vaping has proven to be the most popular quit aid, and we need to focus less on problems and more on solutions to ensure that vapers continue to get the flavors they need to successfully quit cigarettes in the safest way possible,” said Murphy.
KT&G Corp. reported consolidated revenue of KRW1.29 trillion ($942.27 million) and operating profit of KRW236.6 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024.
The South Korean cigarette manufacturer’s overseas and domestic next-generation product (NGP) and overseas cigarette sectors sustained robust performances in the quarter, extending their trend from the previous year.
KT&G also achieved its third consecutive quarters of revenue growth in the overseas cigarette business, driven by strategic pricing in core growth markets such as Indonesia. KT&G’s first-quarter overseas cigarette revenue recorded KRW291.8 billion, up 10.1 percent from the comparable 2023 quarter.
While the company delivered notable results in core business areas, its consolidated revenue and operating profit for the first quarter decreased compared to the same period last year. This downturn was mainly driven by rising manufacturing costs, the completion of large-scale real estate development projects and reduced revenue from the health functional food sector amid lower consumer spending.
“KT&G is committed to strengthening its competitiveness in core business areas and driving a business transformation aimed at making a significant leap forward to become a ‘global top-tier company,’” KT&G wrote in a press release.
“Despite a number of headwinds, such as inflation-driven manufacturing cost pressure and economic recession, KT&G is striving to achieve a business turnaround in the second half of the year by strengthening global competitiveness and pursuing operational efficiency optimization.”
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has issued a series of letters to Members of Parliament (MPs) to raise concerns over “misleading, incomplete, unsubstantiated, or incorrect” information, which the group says was presented to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill Committee.
“We are writing to express our grave concerns at the quality and accuracy of some of the oral evidence presented to what turned out to be a mainly one-sided committee stage of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill,” the organization wrote to lawmakers.
“Because the evidence was mainly given by those who have spoken out against vaping in the past, it presented a very skewed message, which often conflated the legal compliant vape industry with the black market and frequently made no distinction between the tobacco and vaping industries.”
The UKVIA insisted that it did not intend to defeat, delay or circumvent the legislation. Rather, the trade group wants to ensure that when MPs consider the bill, they are doing so from an informed perspective. “In scrutinizing this bill, MPs must balance the rights and needs of adult smokers to have access to the very best products to help them quit, with those of young people to be protected from age-restricted products, including vaping,” the group wrote.
Alongside the letter, the UKVIA has also issued a report that reviews some of the evidence presented by those who were invited to speak during the committee stage of the bill.
