Category: Featured

Tax Free World Association Director Steps Down

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John Rimmer, managing director of the Tax Free World Association (TFWA), will step down from his position and leave the TFWA effective Oct. 30, 2023.
Rimmer joined the TFWA in October 2012 as director of conferences and research. He was promoted to managing director in October 2017 following Alain Maingreaud’s retirement.
“On behalf of the management committee, the board and the entire team at TFWA, I would like to thank John for his valuable contribution to the development and success of TFWA since he joined and wish him every success going forward,” said Erik Juul-Mortensen, president of the TFWA, in a statement.
The search for a new managing director has been initiated, and an announcement will be made in due course, according to the TFWA.
August 11, 2023
Steve McGeough to Lead Übbs

Photo: Übbs
Nicotine pouch manufacturer Übbs has appointed Steve McGeough as general manager.
Previously head of retail at British American Tobacco, Steve brings considerable experience from within the nicotine space. During his time at BAT, McGeough transformed the retail and direct-to-consumer experience, boosting sales by 20 percent. In addition, McGeough led the launch of BAT’s Vuse and Velo brands across the U.K., underpinned by a global offline subscription proposition.
Prior to BAT, McGeough was retail director for Tesco Mobile where he helped to achieve double-digit revenue growth and enhance customer satisfaction.
As general manager for Übbs, Steve will drive distribution, accelerate the brand’s online presence, build awareness and focus on responsible growth.
“With over 25 years’ experience across retail, start-ups and product-led businesses, including significant time in the nicotine industry, Steve brings an impressive blend of experience that means he is perfectly positioned to help propel Übbs forward,” says Nigel Hardy director of Übbs parent company, RV Kharma.
“His experience at British American Tobacco working within the next generation products division where he achieved impressive sales growth and launched nicotine pouch products across the U.K. is a great grounding for what’s to come with Übbs.
“Steve shares our unwavering commitment to excellence, sustainability and ethical practices. We look forward to him taking the reins as we continue to grow.”
Founded in the U.K. in 2022, Übbs’ pouches are manufactured to global pharma standards in India.
August 11, 2023
KT&G Helps Harvest Tobacco

Image: KT&G
KT&G volunteers helped farmers in South Korea’s Chungnam Province harvest tobacco.
The cultivation of leaf tobacco takes place in July and August. The work is mostly performed by hand, resulting in a high labor intensity due to the difficulty of mechanization. Tobacco farming communities struggle to secure labor due to continuous rural depopulation and aging issues.
To help farmers struggling with labor shortages, KT&G has visited leaf tobacco farms every year since 2007. Earlier this year, KT&G volunteers assisted farmers with the transplanting of tobacco seedlings.
Additionally, KT&G supports the welfare of domestic tobacco farmers. In June, the company provided over KRW520 million ($396,657) in financial aid to cover health checkup expenses, children’s education expenses and support for fuel-saving windbreak heaters.
“KT&G remains committed to organizing yearly volunteering activities involving our executives and employees,” said Kim Jung-ho, the director of the headquarters of KT&G’s raw materials division, in a statement. “These efforts aim to uphold consistent and stable cultivation practices for leaf tobacco farmers confronting labor shortages. The support we offer to farmers to foster mutual growth continues to persist.”
August 10, 2023
Pyxus Revenues Jump Nearly 40 Percent

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Pyxus International announced results for its fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2023.
Sales and other operating revenues were $477.1 million, up 38.7 percent compared to 2022. Operating income increased $29.4 million to $36.4 million. Net income was $0.8 million, improving $15.5 million. Adjusted EBITDA increased $27.5 million to $43.5 million.
For the full 2024 fiscal year, Pyxus continues to expect sales to be between $1.9 billion and $2.1 billion and adjusted EBITDA to be between $155 million and $180 million.
“Fiscal 2024 is off to a strong start with higher tobacco prices, accelerated timing of shipments and a favorable shift in customer mix fueling a 39 percent increase in revenue and improved profitability compared to the prior year,” said Pyxus President and CEO Pieter Sikkel in a statement.
“In the first quarter of fiscal 2024, we believe we reached the peak of our fiscal 2024 tobacco purchases as we significantly accelerated our buying, using our geographic footprint to acquire tobacco inventory from multiple markets to meet higher current crop supply requirements and customer demand for fiscal 2024. Customer shipments in fiscal 2024 will utilize a higher percentage of tobacco purchased during the current fiscal year to fulfill orders compared to the prior year given our uncommitted inventory continues to be historically low.
“Our continued focus on aggressively managing our working capital provided sufficient liquidity through short-term borrowings under our foreign seasonal lines of credit, availability under the ABL Credit Facility, cash generated from operations and cash collections from our securitized receivables to purchase larger volumes of more expensive tobacco compared to the prior year. In the first quarter of fiscal 2024, we increased our purchases of inventory by more than $100 million compared to the prior year using $40 million of incremental foreign seasonal lines of credit and our improved cash conversion cycle.
“We anticipate ongoing strong demand as undersupply conditions are expected to persist through fiscal 2024. We believe our positive first-quarter results position the company to achieve our previously announced fiscal 2024 guidance for sales between $1.9 billion and $2.1 billion and adjusted EBITDA between $155 million and $180 million. We are proud of the progress our global teams have made thus far and thank them for their unwavering commitment to our customers and their focus on achieving the company’s objectives so that together we can grow a better world.”
The company held a conference call to report financial results for the period ended June 30, 2023, on Aug. 10, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. For those who were unable to listen to the live event, a telephonic replay of the conference call will be available by dialing (647) 362-9199 or (800) 770-2030 and entering the access code 2624736.
August 10, 2023
Seed Sales Hint at Record Hectarage

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Zimbabwean seed sales suggest a record tobacco hectarage in the 2023-2024 growing season, reports The Herald.
Statistics released by the Tobacco Research Board (TRB) reveal that, by August 8, farmers had procured 847.21 kg of tobacco seed with potential to cover 169,442 ha.
The largest tobacco hectarage to date was recorded in 2019 when growers planted 146,000 ha. The final crop, livestock and fisheries assessment report shows that last year 131,656 ha were put under tobacco.
Zimbabwean tobacco growers had sold 294 million kg of tobacco worth $891 million by day 100 of the ongoing 2023 marketing season.
This is a 44 percent increase in volume and 43 percent rise in value compared to the same period last year.
The average yield this season has risen to over 2 tons per hectare from 1.7 tons per hectare the previous season.
As part of its Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, Zimbabwe seeks to create a $5 billion tobacco industry by 2025 through localization of tobacco funding, increased production and productivity, value addition and beneficiation.
August 10, 2023
Warning Against ‘Mimic Menthols’

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should choose the wording of its intended ban on menthol cigarettes carefully to prevent the emergence of substitute products, according to Maciej Goniewicz, a professor of oncology at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s department of health behavior.
A study carried out by Roswell Park revealed that several nonmenthol cigarette brands introduced in California after that state banned flavored cigarettes in December 2022 contain synthetic chemicals to mimic menthol’s cooling effects.
“Synthetic cooling chemicals that may cause sensations similar to menthol have been reported recently in various tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches,” said Goniewicz, who contributed to the research, in a statement. “This is the first study to discover that synthetic cooling chemicals were added to conventional cigarettes marketed after the implementation of statewide menthol restrictions.”
The researchers measured the content of menthol and 15 other cooling chemicals in the new non-menthol cigarettes sold in California and compared those concentrations to similar products with “menthol” labels available in New York State, where menthol cigarettes are not banned.
Among other things, they found that two non-menthol brands marketed to appeal to menthol smokers were available only in California, which according to the researchers suggests that these products are new to the market and marketed to fill the sales void created by the ban on menthol cigarettes.
With the exception of one variety, menthol was not detected in any cigarettes sold in California. However, while WS-3, a synthetic cooling chemical, was not found in any cigarettes sold in New York, the agent was detected in four types of cigarettes in California that included package descriptions implying a cooling effect.
The study results led Goniewicz to conclude that the wording the FDA uses in its regulation will be important. “Otherwise, if the law says simply, ‘You cannot use menthol,’ the manufacturers may do exactly what we found in California—they will use menthol substitutes, and the product will remain on the market,” he said.
August 10, 2023
Court Tosses Premium Cigar Regulations
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The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has vacated the Food and Drug Administration’s deeming regulations for premium cigars, reports Halfwheel.
As a result, the deeming regulations introduced by the agency in 2016 do not apply to cigars that meets all of the following criteria:
It is wrapped in whole tobacco leaf
It contains 100 percent leaf tobacco binder
It contains at least 50 percent long filler tobacco
It is handmade or hand rolled
It has no filter, nontobacco tip or nontobacco mouthpiece
It does not have a characterizing flavor other than tobacco
It contains only tobacco, water and vegetable gum with no other ingredients or additives
It weighs less than 6 pounds per 1,000 units.
The lawsuit was filed by the Cigar Association of America, the Cigar Rights of America (CRA) and the Premium Cigar Association.
The case focused in part on the rulemaking process, which requires the FDA to inform the public about upcoming regulation and solicit feedback on those proposed rules.
Contrary to the FDA’s assertion when it announced its finalized rules in 2016, the agency received feedback, according to Judge Amit P. Mehta. Specifically, the CRA in a comment to the proposed rules cited a finding from an FDA-funded study indicating that cigar smokers do not have higher “all-cause” mortality rates than nonsmokers.
According to Halfwheel, the cigar industry is likely to ask the FDA to reimburse the user fees it has paid the agency, which the publication estimates at about $100 million per year for both premium and non-premium cigars.
The FDA still has the option to deem premium cigars as regulated tobacco products, but it must complete the process that it failed to complete properly from 2014 to 2016.
August 9, 2023
Vaping Could Save U.K. Half A Billion Pounds

Image: Tobacco Reporter archive
The U.K. National Health Service (NHS) could save over GBP500 million ($636.9 million) annually if half of England’s adult smokers switch to vaping, according to a Brunel University London report.
“If smokers transitioned to RRPs [reduced-risk products], it would significantly reduce the pressure on the NHS and free up much-needed hospital resources for other treatments,” said Francesco Moscone, professor and business economics expert at Brunel University London and study author. “Under a 50 percent conversion scenario, with half of smokers turning to RRPs, the NHS would save an estimated [GBP]518 million in an average year. If the conversion rate was just 10 percent, the NHS would save [GBP]103 million.”
“We are delighted that this new research from Brunel University London reinforces the findings of our own economic impact report,” said John Dunne, director general of the U.K. Vaping Industry Association, in a statement. “The potential savings to the NHS from smokers switching to vaping are enormous, and at a time when the NHS is desperately crying out for more funding and government budgets are squeezed so tightly, this is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss.
“I sincerely hope that these two reports will give the government more impetus to really push the positive impacts that vaping has for the health of our nation and the finances of our country.
“Only last week, ASH [Action on Smoking and Health] revealed shocking data, which showed that four in 10 smokers wrongly believe vaping is as or more harmful than smoking—up from one in five in 2019.
“Misinformation in the mainstream media about the relative health risks of smoking and vaping was one of the reasons given for this increasing lack of knowledge, and unless the government acts to educate smokers about the real risks, then lives will continue to be needlessly lost.”
“Cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic bronchitis and emphysema are the five main disease categories caused by smoking cigarettes. Such illnesses put significant burdens on the NHS, which we know is already under increasing pressure,” said Moscone. “Although the long-term effects of RRPs are still unknown, we know from previous research that alternatives to traditional cigarettes result in a 90 percent reduction in the exposure to chemicals that are major contributors to health risks.”
The study was published in the British Journal of Healthcare Management.
August 9, 2023
KT&G Releases 2022 Integrated Report

Image: KT&G
KT&G has published its 2022 Integrated Report: An ESG Overview, encompassing sustainability management strategies and performance.
The publication has three key sections: the Strategic Report, outlining the group’s novel vision; the ESG Report, detailing performance across various ESG domains; and the ESG Factbook, displaying the global information disclosure index and quantitative accomplishments.
Introduced within the Strategic Report of this publication, KT&G provides insights into its 2027 New Vision, combining prospective growth strategies with environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles. Moving forward, the company aims to channel its strengths into mobilizing business structure innovation, fostering sustainability alongside the spread of important ventures like next-generation products and health-functional foods.
KT&G says it has made significant progress toward achieving its ESG objectives. Among other things, the company has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 7.5 percent over a two-year period, even as it stepped up production at its Korean and international sites. KT&G aims to increase its use of renewable energy sources by more than 18 percent, mainly through the installation of solar power systems.
On the social front, KT&G helped address challenges through its Sangsang Planet and Sangsangmadang initiatives.
Recognizing sustainability as intrinsically tied to corporate value, “KT&G has boarded a fresh vision, seamlessly weaving it into our widespread growth strategy,” said KT&G CEO Baek Bok-in in a statement. “Imposing the strengths of our growing ventures, we will rise as an outstanding global enterprise, targeting over 50 percent of our sales from international markets within the upcoming five years.”
August 9, 2023
Registration Open for CTP Listening Session

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Registration is open for the virtual listening session on the development of the Center for Tobacco Products’ (CTP) five-year strategic plan, which will take place on Aug. 22 beginning at 10 a.m. EDT.
The virtual listening session is an opportunity to verbally provide open public comment on the development of the new strategic plan, including proposed strategic goals. After introductions, the center will begin the listening session with an overview of the process used to develop the CTP’s strategic plan, including proposed goal areas. Registered speakers will then have approximately four minutes each to verbally share their comments on any topics related to the strategic plan. Submit a request to verbally provide open public comment by Aug. 14 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Registration also includes a “listen-only” option for those who want to attend the session but do not request to speak. Listen-only registration slots are unlimited, but registration is required. There is no deadline to register for listen-only slots.
In addition to this listening session, the public can submit electronic or written comments to the Federal Register notice. Electronic comments must be submitted, and written comments must be postmarked, by Aug. 29.
August 8, 2023