Category: Featured

BAT Urges Stricter Vape Rules

Photo: BAT
BAT is urging the U.K. to introduce new regulations that the company believes will help the country achieve its “smoke-free” ambitions.
England wants to reduce smoking prevalence to 5 percent of less by 2030, with Wales targeting a similar timeline and Scotland four years later.
Ahead of the consultation on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill that ends Dec. 6, BAT is now publishing proposals that seek to minimize the underage appeal of, and access to, vapor products, along with the environmental impact of single-use e-cigarettes.
In addition to a ban on dessert and soft drink flavors for vapes, the company is calling for an end to marketing slogans and imagery involving toys, cartoons and sweets.
“Vaping is the key to unlocking the U.K.’s smokefree target,” said Asli Ertonguc, BAT lead for the U.K., in a statement. “As the largest manufacturer of vaping products in the U.K., we are clear on our responsibilities and are urging the government to introduce more stringent vaping regulations. We believe that underage users should never vape, so we want confectionery, dessert and soft drink flavors to be banned and the introduction of a new regime for how and where vapes are sold.”
In practice, this would mean requiring vape sellers to have a retail license, similar to that in place with alcohol and cigarettes, and which would be revoked if they were found to be selling to anyone underage, according to BAT. Retailers would also have to demonstrate to Trading Standards that they observe either Challenge 25 protocols or new technologies at point-of-sale locations which verify age, such as facial recognition cameras.
In addition to tackling underage vaping, BAT also wants vapes to be made more environmentally responsible. BAT wants it to be mandatory for single use vapes to have removable batteries, to make recycling more straightforward.
Five million single use vapes are thrown away each week in the U.K. according to 2023 research from recycling campaign group Material Focus—a fourfold increase since 2022. But only 17 percent of vapers recycle in the correct recycling bins, according to the same data.
Finally, according to BAT, products shipped to the U.K. should be subject to a mandatory testing program to ensure products are compliant with U.K. regulations before they can be sold.
“We recognize that some want single use vapes banned altogether, but we are concerned such a move would lead to unregulated sales, and less options for adult smokers looking to switch,” said Ertonguc. “Governments should wield their enforcement powers to help re-build confidence in vaping by ensuring adult consumers can buy legitimate products, and suitably penalizing those who fail to comply.”
November 27, 2023
Leaf Exports Poised to Hit $1.6 Billion

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Zimbabwe expects to earn at least $1.6 billion from tobacco exports this season, reports The Herald. Since the start of the marketing season, the country has exported more than 210 million kg of tobacco worth more than $1 billion, more than two thirds of the crop.
Zimbabwe’s tobacco growers delivered nearly 300 million kg this year, which currently being processed, sorted and exported, a process that takes up to a full year.
The Far East is the largest destination for Zimbabwean leaf in terms of value. Other prominent destinations include the European Union and the Middle East.
As part of the government’s Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, Zimbabwe aims to build a $5 billion tobacco industry by 2025, a target that looks increasingly realistic in light of the recent export figures.
“The vision for a $5 billion tobacco industry is quite achievable,” said Zimbabwe Farmers Union Secretary General Paul Zakariya. “As we inch towards that vision, we need to significantly increase local funding for tobacco production. This will allow for local value addition and import substitution of finished products. That is where real value is.”

November 24, 2023
New Zealand Ditches Generational Ban

Photo: asanojunki0110
New Zealand’s new coalition government plans to scrap the country’s controversial generational tobacco ban, which would have prohibited tobacco products for people born after 2009, reports CodeBlue.
The coalition agreement signed on Nov. 24 by the National Party, the ACT and New Zealand First in the wake of the country’s general elections calls for a repeal of amendments to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 and regulations, which took effect Jan. 1, 2023,
In addition to prohibiting anyone from selling or supplying smoked tobacco products to people born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, the amendments would have restricted the sale of smoked tobacco products to a limited number of approved retail outlets and extended the act’s regulatory powers over the composition of smoked tobacco products, such as nicotine levels.
While ditching the generational tobacco ban, the new government vowed to get tough on vaping by banning disposable e-cigarettes and increasing penalties for illegal sales to those aged under 18.
Health advocates criticized the reversal of the amendments. “Way to start being health minister—by caving into the tobacco industry,” New Zealand’s former Health Minister Ayesha Verrall wrote on X about her successor, Shane Reti. “Repealing smokefree laws will mean thousands of deaths.”
Smoker rights’ group Forest welcomed the repeal, and urged British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to follow suit by abandoning similar measures in the United Kingdom.
“The policy treats future generations of adults like kids and it won’t work. It will simply drive smokers into the hands of illegal traders and criminal gangs,” said Forest Director Simon Clark.
“The consequences of the policy, which would eventually allow a 40-year-old to legally buy cigarettes while denying that right to a 39-year-old, are absurd.
“Having stolen the idea from the previous New Zealand government, the prime minister should follow the example of the next New Zealand government and scrap this crazy idea.”
On the same day of the announcement in New Zealand, Malaysia approved revisions to the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023 that decoupled that country’s planned generational end game ban from the tobacco and vape control bill.
November 24, 2023
Planting on Schedule in Sancti Spiritus

Photo: Habanos
Tobacco planting in Cuba’s Sancti Spiritus province are proceeding according to schedule, reports Prensa Latina.
The 2023-2024 crop is expected to benefit from investments in science and technology, according to Isidro Hernandez, agricultural director of the local tobacco collection and processing company.
According to Prensa Latina, tobacco growers have been satisfied with the contributions achieved through root ball tunnels and seeds obtained through mechanization and phytosanitary care.
Meanwhile, photovoltaic panels are assisting in the efficient administration of fertilizers and optimal use of water.
In addition, controlled leaf curing will reduce farmer’s reliance on the weather.
November 23, 2023
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