Category: Featured

  • Activist Group Touts THR Benefits

    Activist Group Touts THR Benefits

    Photo: Rawpixel.com

    Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released a new issue brief, “Tobacco Harm Reduction Products Should Be Promoted Not Prohibited,” co-authored by CAGW President Tom Schatz and Director of Health and Science Policy Christina Smith, which details the benefits of tobacco harm reduction (THR) products.

    “CAGW’s issue brief continues CAGW’s longstanding work on the benefits of THR products. Despite the evidence of their effectiveness in saving lives, state and federal bureaucrats have instituted regressive taxes, strict regulations and outright bans on harm reduction products, Schatz and Smith wrote in their statement.

    “Restrictions on THR products have led to the creation of a dangerous and unregulated market that puts consumers at risk. And even with a crackdown on these products, the number of unique e-cigarette devices sold in the U.S. has tripled to more than 9,000 since 2020, driven mainly by unauthorized disposable vaping products from China. Instead of continuing and expanding strict laws and regulations, government officials should approach the issue of harm reduction products with evidence-based data and logical reasoning and promote policies that have helped millions of adult smokers quit.”

    CAGW is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government. The organization is based in Washington, D.C.

  • Menthol Rule Expected ‘in Coming Months’

    Menthol Rule Expected ‘in Coming Months’

    Photo: Luis Pinto

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will finalize its rules to prohibit the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars “in the coming months,” according to a spokesperson quoted by CBS News.

    When the FDA in April 2022 announced that it was going to ban the flavor, it set a deadline of August 2023 to work out the details. However, the agency made no announcements last month.

    While the number of people who smoke cigarettes in the U.S. has fallen to historical lows, the proportion of people who smoke menthols has been increasing, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

    Tobacco companies insist there are better ways to reduce the health impact of smoking than banning menthol in cigarettes. “Evidence from other markets including Canada and the EU where similar bans have been imposed, demonstrates little impact on overall cigarette consumption,” Luis Pinto, vice president of corporate communications and media relations at Reynolds American Inc., told CBS News in an e-mail.

    Experts say that even when the FDA enacts a nationwide ban, it could be many years before it goes into place, as tobacco companies are likely to challenge the measure in court.

  • Brazilian Stakeholders Speak Up for Tobacco

    Brazilian Stakeholders Speak Up for Tobacco

    Photo: SindiTabaco

    Industry representatives stressed the importance of considering tobacco growers viewpoints in the tenth Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which is scheduled to take place Nov. 20-25 in Panama City.

    During a panel discussion at the Expointer 2023 agricultural and livestock exposition in Esteio, Rio Grande do Sul, which concluded Sept 3, experts highlighted the economic significance of the tobacco industry to Brazil in general and the country’s southern provinces in particular.

    “We have almost 600,000 people living directly from the crop,” said Marcilio Drescher, president  of the Brazilian Tobacco Growers Association, Afubra, according to a SindiFumo report.

    “On average, 51 percent of our income comes from tobacco and is supplemented by diversification. The average property is 10.5 hectares. Farmers support their families on this small area of land and use an average of just 3.29 hectares for tobacco. A small area under tobacco provides an excellent income combined with diversification. In the last harvest, the farmer’s gross income reached BRL88,000 [$17,859] per capita per family, on average, and there’s also the income from diversification,” he said.

    The topic of diversification is likely to feature prominently during the COP discussion, given that the FCTC encourages countries to move tobacco farmers into other crops. While supporting agricultural diversification, participants in the Expointer panel discussion lamented the exclusion from the discussions of those most impacted by COP decisions. “We cannot have a discussion on producer diversification without involving the primary stakeholders,” said one panelist.

    Rio Grande do Sul’s secretary for economic development, Ernani Polo, stressed his government’s commitment to protecting the tobacco sector.  “We know that the industries and the sector are working hard to diversify, but tobacco production is still what keeps producers in the countryside,” he said.

    The event was also attended by Iro Schunke, president of the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union; Vinicius Pegoraro, the president of the Association of Tobacco Producing Municipalities; Giuseppe Lobo, executive manager of the Brazilian Tobacco Industry Association; and Gualter Batista Júnior, the president of the Federation of Tobacco Industry Workers and the Santa Cruz do Sul and Region Tobacco and Food Industry Workers Union.

  • Emirati Group Acquires a Third of Eastern Co.

    Emirati Group Acquires a Third of Eastern Co.

    Photo: xtock

    Global Investment Holding Co. of the United Arab Emirates has acquired a 30 percent state in Eastern Co. of Egypt for EGP19.3 billion ($625 million), reports Ahram Online.

    After the sale, the state-owned shareholder, Chemical Industries Holding Co. (CIHC), will retain a 20.9 percent stake in Eastern.

    The deal is part of Egypt’s program to sell stakes in 35 state-owned companies to strategic investors by the end of June 2024.

    Egypt’s minister of public enterprises, Mahmoud Esmat, said the deal underscores the government’s commitment to the success of its program to expand ownership and encourage direct private investment across various sectors.

    In the first nine months of fiscal year 2022-2023 (which concluded in March), Eastern Co. had a domestic market share of more than 70 percent and reported a net profit of EGP5.29 billion, up 24 percent over the comparable period in the previous year.

    The privatization program is part of Egypt’s commitments under a $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

    The government announced wants to attract $5 billion from the offering of power plants and state-owned companies from October 2023 until the end of June 2024.

    In related news, Eastern recently boosted its production by 40 percent to help alleviate a cigarette shortage in Egypt, according to The Egypt Independent.

    The short supply had caused prices of popular brands such as Cleopatra to surge to unprecedented levels.

    Following Eastern’s decision to increase output and step up vigilance against illicit sales, cigarette prices fell by EGP20, bringing the price of a pack to EGP40.

    Eastern Company CEO Hani Aman announced that the company is working with various state agencies to ensure the proper supplies are being provided to the public.

     

  • Pakistan Poised to Enact Tracking System

    Pakistan Poised to Enact Tracking System

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has signed agreements with 22 tobacco manufacturers to install a track-and-trace system at their factories, reports The News International.

    The digital system, which allows the FBR to monitor the production, distribution and sale of tobacco products through unique identification codes and stamps on cigarette packs, is expected to increase the tax revenue from the tobacco sector, which contributes about 1.5 percent of the total tax collection in Pakistan.

    The FBR initiated the system two years ago. Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC) and Philip Morris International were the first to sign agreements and make the system operations, followed by Khyber Tobacco Co.

    Now the FBR has signed agreements with 18 more manufacturers.

    There are between 26 and 30 tobacco manufacturers in Pakistan, according to FBR estimates, though some of them are not operational or have moved to nominally self-governing territories such as Azad Jammu and Kasmir.

    The implementation of the track-and-trace system has been marred by legal challenges. With the exception of one case, all these challenges have been rejected in court.  

    FBR officials expect the system to become operational by October 2023.

  • UKVIA Terminates Tobacco Memberships

    UKVIA Terminates Tobacco Memberships

    The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has ended the membership of British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco International and Philip Morris International.

    Following a member-wide consultation, the association will not be accepting any new applications for membership by vaping businesses wholly/part owned or acquired by tobacco companies in the future. As a result, it will not be accepting any tobacco company funding in the future.

    When the UKVIA was initially set up seven years ago it was established to represent the entire U.K. vaping industry, including the e-cigarette operations owned by tobacco brands.

    In this period, the association has established itself as a major force in the sector, championing the burgeoning vaping industry across the U.K. Today it’s also held up as a leading voice of the industry across the world.

    “However, it has become increasingly clear that the interests of the industry would be best served by the association being independent of any involvement or funding from tobacco-owned vaping brands,” the UKVIA wrote on its website.

    The organization attributes its decision to a prevailing external misperception that the association is largely financially supported by tobacco firms. Whilst funding from tobacco-owned vaping brands for the last membership year amounted to less than 4 percent of the total of all UKVIA’s income, according to the group, it gave the impression in some quarters that the association was synonymous with combustible tobacco—the very market it is trying to eliminate to create a smoke free future.

    The UKVIA also believes the involvement of tobacco-owned vaping brands limits the organization to engage with key stakeholders, such as parliamentarians, public health officials and local authorities. The group said it has underestimated the impact of restrictions on tobacco companies for the association to engage with some key stakeholders, particularly those in public health.

    “In representing vaping-only businesses, many of which are independent firms founded on the back of personal loss of family members as a result of smoking combustible cigarettes, the UKVIA wants to be fully engaged with key stakeholders across the board as we have the same vision, which is to make smoking history,” the UKVIA wrote. “The association sees this as being a vital step in ensuring that the public health potential of vaping is fully realized and the sector making its fullest contribution to the delivery of the smoke free targets over the next few years to 2030.

  • TIMB Urges Sustainable Crop Growth

    TIMB Urges Sustainable Crop Growth

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe is on track to export $1.5 billion worth of tobacco, according to Tobacco Industry & Marketing Board (TIMB) Acting CEO Emmanuel Matsvaire.

    In an interview with The Zimbabwe Independent, Matsvaire shared his views on the challenges and opportunities facing the country’s tobacco sector.

    To date, Zimbabwe has exported about 105 million kg of tobacco at an average of $5.04 per kg, compared to 93 million kg exported during the same period last year at an average price of $4.62 per kg.

    The Far East remains the top destination for Zimbabwean tobacco, according to Matsvaire, making up about 41 percent of total exports. The region also has the highest average export price due to high quality tobacco that goes here.

    Out of the 295.5 million kg of tobacco sold this season, the TIMB estimate that about 5 million kg have been side-marketed, which is less than 2 percent of the total crop.

    The regulators has worked hard to fight the practice, according to Matsvaire. “We have brought in a new compliance framework. We have also established a new department that ensures that compliance is up to date. We also have an inspectorate department and field officers on the ground,” he told The Zimbabwe Independent.

    Matsvaire stressed the importance of matching production to demand, and of adhering to proper production practices. “We need to ensure that there is a balance between price and what is produced, and quality as well as quantity,” he said. “We do not wish to increase volumes without good quality. We ensure that we are also growing sustainably using the right sources of energy and labor. We do not need to use children in growing tobacco. We also need to ensure that our environment is safe. Our growth has to be sustainable growth.”

  • Zimbabwe Crafting Funding Scheme

    Zimbabwe Crafting Funding Scheme

    Photo: stringerphoto

    The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) and Zimbabwean banks are jointly working on a scheme to provide funding to farmers, reports The Sunday Mail, citing a senior official.

    As part of its Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, which seeks to retain more value from the industry in Zimbabwe, the government seeks to increase local funding for production of the crop.

    Currently, about 90 percent of tobacco production is financed through offshore loans under contract schemes.

    The offshore pre-financing arrangement means tobacco merchants bring into the country part of export proceeds in the form of inputs. After exports, the bulk of the proceeds are used to pay offshore loans. Critics have suggested the cost of inputs have been highly inflated in some cases.

    Smallholder growers struggle to access finance because they lack security. The proposed model seeks to enable growers to access the loans even without collateral, TIMB acting chief executive Emmanuel Matsvaire said in an interview Aug. 31.

    Last month, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe scrapped the requirement compelling merchants to source offshore financing to fund production and buying green leaf from farmers.

  • Critics: €12 Cigarettes “Too Lenient”

    Critics: €12 Cigarettes “Too Lenient”

    Photo: OceanProd

    A French plan to raise the price of cigarettes to €12 ($12.94) per pack is “too lenient,” according to critics, reports Euractiv.

    Speaking on the RMC station on Aug. 28, spokesman Olivier Véran said the government could raise the price of cigarettes to €12 per pack from the start of 2024.

    But according to the French Alliance Against Tobacco (ACT), a lobby group that brings together anti-tobacco organizations, this measure is not up to the public health challenge.

    “Only a strong and sustained policy will enable us to achieve an effective and lasting reduction in the prevalence of smoking in our country,” said ACT president Loïc Josseran, whose organization wants a pack of 20 cigarettes to cost €16 by 2027.

    The ACT would also like to see an increase in the price of other tobacco products, such as roll-your-own tobacco, to discourage smokers of so-called conventional cigarettes from switching to these products.

    According to the World Health Organization, on average, a 10 percent price increase reduces consumption by 5-8 percent in low- and middle-income countries and by about 4 percent in high-income countries.

    After falling significantly between 2016 and 2019, daily smoking has stabilized since 2019. There are nearly 12 million smokers in France, according to data published by Santé publique France in 2022.

  • Ukraine Restricts Duty-Free Tobacco Sales

    Ukraine Restricts Duty-Free Tobacco Sales

    Ukraine has restricted the duty-free sales of cigarettes and alcohol, reports Interfax.

    The law, which signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sept. 1, 2023, prohibits goods that fall under a certain categories of the Ukrainian Classification of Commodities from being registered as duty-free commodities until the country lifts the martial law that has been in effect since Russia’s invasion.

    The measure is intended to tackle illegal trade in tobacco products. Despite restrictions on foreign travel after the breakout of hostilities in early 2022, the number of cigarette packs purchased near borders rose sharply compared with those sold at other outlets, causing the Ukraine to miss out on substantial tax earnings.

    An ad hoc investigative commission created at the urging of the State Tax Service in May 2023, suggested stricter controls on tobacco manufacturers and exporters.