Category: Featured

  • Canada Proposes Federal Vape Tax

    Canada Proposes Federal Vape Tax

    Photo: Roman R

    The Canadian government has proposed the country’s first federal vape tax, which would take effect Oct. 1 if passed, according to Vaping360.

    The tax applies only to nicotine-containing products, including pod-style and cartridge-style refills, disposable vapes and bottled e-liquids as well as nicotine base for DIY liquids. It does not apply to hardware that is sold without e-liquids. The tax also includes an option for Canadian provinces to add on their own, equally large, taxes.

    Vaping products would see a tax of CAD1 ($0.97) per 2 mL for the first 10 mL of e-liquid in any sealed container and $1 per 10 mL for additional liquid in the same container. Sealed pods would be taxed separately at a minimum of $1 per pod.

    Retailers would have until Jan. 1, 2023, to sell any untaxed stock they still have on Oct. 1 when the law would go into effect.

    The tax is awaiting a vote by Parliament’s House of Commons, which is expected to take place either at the end of April or beginning of May.

  • BAT to Upgrade Kanfanar Factory

    BAT to Upgrade Kanfanar Factory

    Photo: burnel11

    British American Tobacco is investing more than €80 million ($87 million) to upgrade its cigarette factory in Kanfanar, Croatia, to make new categories of tobacco products, reports SeeNews, citing Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenkovic.

    BAT acquired the cigarette factory on the Istria peninsula in 2015 when it took over Tvornica Duhana Rovinj for more than €500 million. Under the deal, BAT was obliged to maintain production at the factory in Kanfanar for at least five years.

    In September 2020, Plenkovic said the government was in talks with BAT on the company’s plans to relocate production from the factory to another country, following media reports that BAT might leave due to worsened business conditions in Croatia.

    In May 2021, BAT said it would start producing heated tobacco products in Kanfanar.

  • Smoore Revenue Jumps Nearly 40 percent

    Smoore Revenue Jumps Nearly 40 percent

    Smoore’s Chairman and CEO Chen Zhiping (Photo: Smoore)

    Smoore reported revenues of CNY13.75 billion ($2.16 billion) in 2021, up approximately 37.4 percent over the previous year.

    The company maintained its position as the world’s largest manufacturer of vaping devices. According to Frost and Sullivan, Smoore’s share of the global vaping devices market increased to 22.8 percent in 2021 from 18.9 percent in 2020.

    Smoore attributed its strong performance largely to the success of its flagship FEELM closed-system brand. To date, vaping devices with FEELM atomizers have been exported to 50 countries in Europe, America, East Asia, Africa and Oceania.

    Smoore invested more than CNY670 million in research and development during 2021, representing an increase of approximately 59.7 percent over the previous year. “The driving force of the atomization industry is technological innovation, which brings fundamental breakthroughs in product safety and flavor reproduction,” said Smoore Chairman Chen Zhiping in a statement.

    As of Dec. 31, 2021, Smoore had filed 3,408 patent applications, covering innovations relating to temperature control, heating elements, leakage-prevention and e-liquid storage, among other technologies.

    The company recently set up a risk-assessment laboratory to help customers comply with the EU’s Tobacco Product Directive, along with seven fundamental research centers in China and the United States. It also installed a fully automated production line for vapor product assembly and packaging with a capacity of 7,200 standard vaporizers per hour.

    In 2021, Smoore introduced the world’s first ceramic coil disposable pod solution. In January 2022, it showcased the world’s thinnest ceramic coil vape pod solution, FEELM Air in London.

    The company has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality in its direct and indirect production and operational activities by 2050.

    Frost and Sullivan expects the global market for vaping devices to grow at a compound growth rate of approximately 25.3 percent.

  • Politicians Urged to Debate Vaping in Australia

    Politicians Urged to Debate Vaping in Australia

    Photo: alexlmx

    The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) is urging Australian politicians to debate vaping in the runup the country’s federal election on May 21.

    According to the advocacy group, Australian politicians who recognize the public health potential of vaping will be rewarded with votes, “yet most remain too scared to promote the world’s most effective smoking cessation tool.”

    Nancy Loucas

    “Australia’s political leaders need to pull their heads out of the sand,” said Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of CAPHRA. “Annually, over 20,000 Australian smokers die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses, and 2.3 million still smoke. Alarmingly, however, nobody wants to seriously fix successive governments’ failure to reduce tobacco harm.”

    Australia is the only Western democracy that requires a nicotine prescription to vape. Further, its Department of Health’s Draft National Smoking Strategy 2022–2030 proposes additional measures to prevent smokers from switching to safer nicotine products.

    Loucas suspects that tobacco tax revenues are one of the reasons that vaping has been buried in the election debate. Ongoing increases to tobacco excise have made it the fourth-largest individual tax collected by Australia’s federal government at an estimated $15 billion per financial year, according to CAPHRA.

    The group notes that nearly 70 countries have adopted regulatory frameworks on safer nicotine products. All of them have reported a dramatic decline in smoking prevalence since.

    “Australia is light-years behind the U.S., U.K. and New Zealand, with some key Asian countries now looking to lift their failed vaping bans. If campaigning Australian politicians really want to save lives this election, well here is their best opportunity by simply a stroke of the pen,” said Loucas. 

  • Thailand to Confirm Ban on E-Cigarettes

    Thailand to Confirm Ban on E-Cigarettes

    Image: Arcady

    Thailand’s government has rejected an initiative to legalize and regulate nicotine vaping products, opting, instead, to reconfirm the country’s ban on sales and imports of e-cigarettes, according to Vaping360.

    Thailand’s ban has been in place since 2014.

    The National Tobacco Products Control Committee upheld the ban in a meeting last week, and Public Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Kiattiphum Wongrajit supports the decision. The decision will go to the cabinet for formal approval, and the cabinet is not expected to overrule the decision.

    Thailand’s tobacco committee has stated that the country should uphold the ban to prevent cigarette addiction by children and adolescents.

    Minister of Digital Economy and Society Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn has urged the government to end its ban on vapes, which he believes offer a low-risk alternative for smokers. As recently as January, he had planned to set up a working group to study the issue and consider public opinion.

  • Imperial Brands Issues Trading Update

    Imperial Brands Issues Trading Update

    Photo: Casimirokt | Dreamstime.com

    Imperial Brands continues to perform in line with its five-year strategy launched in 2021, the company announced in a trading update.

    “Focused investment in our top five combustible markets, which account for around 70 percent of adjusted operating profit, has driven an increase in aggregate market share for those markets,” the company wrote. “Gains in the U.S., U.K. and Australia more than offset declines in Germany and Spain. These share gains were achieved while maintaining strong pricing discipline, and overall tobacco volumes are in line with expectations.”

    According to Imperial Brands, consumers have responded positively to the pilots of its Pulze heated-tobacco system in Greece and the Czech Republic and an improved consumer marketing proposition for its Blu vapor product in the U.S. “We are making good progress against our strategic objective of building a sustainable, consumer-centric next-generation product (NGP) business, and we will provide an update on our next steps at the interim results,” the company wrote.

    Imperial Brands expects first-half NGP revenues to be slightly ahead of the prior period, driven by growth in Europe.

    “We are on track to deliver full-year results in line with our revised guidance issued on 15 March, with expected full-year net revenue growth of around 0 [percent to] 1 percent on a constant currency basis and adjusted operating profit growth of around 1 percent,” Imperial said.

    The company expects first-half group adjusted operating profit to grow by around 2 percent on a constant currency basis, benefiting primarily from reduced losses in NGP. “As expected, tobacco performance will be weighted to the second half,” the company wrote. “First-half tobacco operating profit will be broadly flat on last year on a constant currency basis, with increased investment behind our strategy offsetting the benefit of reduced U.S. litigation costs compared to last year.”

    In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Imperial Brands is continuing negotiations with a local third party about an orderly transfer of its Russian assets and operations as a going concern.

  • Alibaba to End Sales of Vaping Products

    Alibaba to End Sales of Vaping Products

    Photo: Ascannio

    Alibaba International Station announced that, beginning May 1, it will no longer allow the sale of vaping products, according to a report by Panda Daily. The cross-border trade B2B e-commerce platform’s ban will include cartridges, e-liquids, hardware and all other vaping-related products.

    Alibaba is one of the world’s largest retailers and e-commerce companies.

    In March this year, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration of China announced new rules for e-cigarettes, which are scheduled to come into force on May 1.

    After the document was issued, many e-cigarette manufacturers said that they would stop the production of e-cigarettes with fruit flavors in the domestic market. Therefore, under the new regulations, the prices of e-cigarettes have been rising. Many brands raised the price of their e-cigarettes with various fruit and soda flavors, with prices increasing between CNY20 ($3.14) and CNY30.

    According to a report released by iiMedia Research, the retail sales of the global new tobacco market reached CNY360.5 billion in 2021, an overall increase of 25.6 percent, while China’s domestic sales increased by 73 percent. In addition, according to the Blue Book of the Electronic Cigarette Industry in 2021, in terms of export, the total output value of electronic cigarettes exports reached CNY138.3 billion, and there are more than 1,500 e-cigarette manufacturers in China.

  • Illicit Trade Surges in South Africa

    Illicit Trade Surges in South Africa

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    A new study by Ipsos shows that illegal cigarette trade has surged in the past year in South Africa.

    Illicit trade exploded during a five-month ban on tobacco sales that was implemented to prevent the spread of Covid-19 during 2020. While the ban was lifted in August 2020, illicit trade continues to be significantly higher than it was before the measure.

    The Ipsos study showed: four out of five stores in the Western Cape (80 percent) now sell cigarettes below the minimum collectible tax (MCT) rate of ZAR22.79 per pack, as do almost 70 percent of outlets in Gauteng, a significant increase compared to previous research; the number of garage forecourts across the country selling illicit cigarettes has quadrupled in the last year—despite the 2020 sales ban having been lifted; a single pack of 20 cigarettes is now on sale for as little as ZAR7 in many retail outlets nationwide.

    The latest Ipsos study provides compelling evidence that criminals continue to dominate South Africa’s tobacco trade.

    Johnny Moloto, general manager, BAT South Africa

    “This is less than a third of the MCT and down even further from ZAR8, which was the lowest price found in the October 2021 study; and products bearing trademarks licensed to or owned by Zimbabwe-based Gold Leaf Tobacco Corporation and CarniLinx, a member of South Africa’s Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association, continue to win this illegal price war,” BAT South Africa (BATSA) wrote in a statement.

    “The latest Ipsos study provides compelling evidence that criminals continue to dominate South Africa’s tobacco trade,” said BATSA General Manager Johnny Moloto. “These criminals are hiding in plain sight, robbing the fiscus of vital revenue when it is needed most. They are destroying legitimate businesses and jobs while national unemployment rates hit record highs.”

    Tobacco Reporter covered South Africa’s struggle with illicit trade in-depth in its March 2022 issue (see “Damage Done“). 

  • Vape Group to Raise Awareness With ‘VApril’

    Vape Group to Raise Awareness With ‘VApril’

    John Dunne (Photo: UKVIA)

    VApril 2022, the annual awareness campaign from the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) that educates smokers on vaping, opened with a vaping masterclass session with experts from the vaping industry, stop-smoking services and healthcare.

    For the first time, this year, the UKVIA is running a promotional campaign on social media, including an animated five-step guide to transitioning successfully from smoking to vaping; a video featuring the life-changing experience of a former smoker turned vaper; and a video of Anita Sharma addressing common concerns of smokers who are considering switching to vaping to help them quit their smoking habits.

    The month will also see publication of research on the level and quality of advice that is being provided to adult smokers when considering a switch to vaping.

    “We know from Public Health England that vaping is at least 95 percent less harmful than smoking, and the last 18 months has seen a massive groundswell of support from the medical and political worlds underlining how vital vaping is toward helping people to quit smoking and the overall health of the nation,” said John Dunne, director general of the UKVIA, in a statement.

    “We are steadfast and determined in our mission and resolve to give smokers a real choice, underpinned by VApril 2022 and the huge support we receive from vape retail stores and other businesses across the U.K. as well as vape associations across the world.”

  • Altria Signs Power Purchase Agreement

    Altria Signs Power Purchase Agreement

    Photo: sumikophoto

    Altria Group has signed a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) for energy produced by a new wind farm project in Haskell and Throckmorton Counties, Texas, USA. Altria’s contracted portion of the Inertia Wind Energy Center is intended to address the emissions from 100 percent of Altria’s annual purchased electricity demand across all U.S. facilities.

    “This is our first-ever VPPA and marks significant progress toward our science-based environmental targets—achieving 100 percent renewable electricity and reducing operational greenhouse gases emissions by 55 percent by 2030,” said Sal Mancuso, executive vice president and chief financial officer in a statement.

    “When the project is operational, we expect we will hit both those targets—ahead of schedule. We’re proud to support a project that will bring additional renewable energy to the electricity grid, contributing to positive climate action.”

    The Inertia Wind Energy Center will be developed, owned and operated by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, and is expected to be operational by the end of 2022 with a total generation capacity of 301 megawatts. In addition to bringing clean energy to the grid, the project is expected to create jobs and provide long-lasting economic benefits to the local community.

    Altria’s agreement equates to around 400,000 MWh of renewable electricity per year—the equivalent of over 51,000 homes’ annual electricity use—and is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 283,000 metric tons, or equivalent to the emissions from more than 61,000 passenger vehicles being driven each year.