Ivan Cahyadi (second from bottom left) will assume his new function on May 1. (Photo: Sampoerna)
Ivan Cahyadi will succeed Vassilis Gkatzelis as president director of Philip Morris International’s Sampoerna subsidiary in Indonesia on May 1.
Gkatzelis will join PMI’s executive leadership team as president of the East Asia, Australia and PMI duty-free region, overseeing strategic markets such as Japan, South Korea and China.
“Vassilis has successfully led Sampoerna through a stellar performance over the last two years, allowing it to continue to realize its commitment to creating value and multiplier effects for the society at large,” said Sampoerna President Commissioner John Gledhill in a statement. “I would like to thank Vassilis for his contributions to Sampoerna and congratulate him on his new global leadership role at PMI.”
Gledhill expressed confidence in Cahyadi’s leadership, praising his extensive experience and leadership.
Cahyadi joined Sampoerna in 1996 as a management trainee and progressed through many positions in Sampoerna, including organization development manager (1999–2000), manager of market intelligence (2000–2004), head of sales strategic development (2004–2005) and head of sales zone (2005–2009). He was named director of sales and distribution for PMI’s affiliate in Malaysia in 2009 before returning to Sampoerna in 2010 as head of zone and being appointed as a member of the board of directors in 2016.
In addition to approving Cahyadi’s appointment, Sampoerna shareholders also endorsed Yohan Lesmana as a director during the company’s annual meeting on April 23.
Philip Morris International reported net revenues of $8.8 billion in the first quarter of 2024, up 9.7 percent on a reported basis over the comparable 2023 period. Gross profit grew 12.4 percent to $5.6 billion while operating income was $3 billion, reflecting an 11.5 increase over the 2023 quarter.
Growth was driven by strong demand for heated-tobacco products and Zyn nicotine pouches. Shipments of heat-not-burn products jumped 20.9 percent to 33.13 billion units from the comparable 2023 quarter.
Sales of oral smoke-free products increased 35.8 percent to 4.2 billion units. In the United States, shipments of Zyn nicotine pouches jumped nearly 80 percent versus the prior year to reach 131.6 million cans. The company now commands 74 percent of the category in the U.S.
PMI’s combustible cigarette shipments contracted by 0.4 percent from the 2023 quarter to 143.19 billion sticks.
The smoke-free business now accounts for 39 percent of PMI’s net revenues.
“The strength of our first-quarter results with excellent top-line growth and significant margin expansion gives us the confidence to raise our 2024 currency-neutral guidance,” said PMI CEO Jacek Olczak in a statement.
“Strong smoke-free momentum continues with rapid underlying volume progression and accelerating organic net revenue and gross profit growth, fueled by the operating leverage of IQOS and the best-in-class economics of Zyn.
“We are executing efficiently and effectively in a dynamic operating environment of geopolitical and economic tensions that accentuate currency volatility. We are doing our utmost to mitigate these challenges and deliver robust growth and value creation.”
The vaping industry has significantly changed in the 10 years since Vapor Voice started publishing.
By Timothy S. Donahue
The vaping industry has changed dramatically during the past decade. When Vapor Voice published its first issue in 2014, the e-cigarette industry was about six years old and still in its infancy. Cig-a-likes and tobacco flavors were still popular, but flavors and mods started taking off. In an online article on Dec. 14, 2019, Vapor Voice reported that Clearette was named “Best E-Cigarette and Vapor Line of 2014” in a competition organized by ECig Review Central.
ECig Review Central gathered 25 leading vapor enthusiasts from around the United States. The judges were blindfolded and sampled 20 prominent e-cigarette brands over six hours. “I liked the bold e-cigs the best,” said one judge. “The throat hit was perfect, and the draw was extremely smooth.”
Each tester was given a 15-minute to 20-minute break between individual e-cigarettes. Judges rated taste, quality and delivery on a scale of one to 10. In 2014, 21 out of 25 judges rated Clearette’s line as the best tasting. “The entire line was incredible,” stated another judge. “I was thinking it might be a tobacco company’s, but it wasn’t. The vapor tasted just like smoke.” Sadly, like many early vapor companies, Clearette and ECig Review Central are no longer in business.
These early devices provided little vapor, and battery life was short compared to today’s products. One early industry leader, Njoy, is still producing products, albeit now under the Altria umbrella. The difference between Njoy’s original Daily disposable and its current Daily disposable exemplifies the vapor industry’s technological growth. In addition, Njoy’s Ace pod system is the most technologically advanced vaping product to have received marketing authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Vapor Voice’s first print edition followed Altria’s announcement to launch its MarkTen e-cigarette nationwide. Altria also purchased Green Smoke for $110 million in cash and up to $20 million in incentive payments. Both the MarkTen and Green Smoke products are no longer on the market. Later that year, Greg Conley started the American Vaping Association, a nonprofit vapor industry advocacy organization that has now become part of the American Vapor Manufacturers Association, and the Oxford English Dictionary voted “vape” as the word of the year. Philip Morris International also launched its heated-tobacco product, IQOS, in Milan, Italy, and Nagoya, Japan.
In 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration also released its proposed rule for extending its authority to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigars, hookah and pipe tobacco (“the deeming rule”). The new regulations for electronic nicotine-delivery system (ENDS) products were finalized in 2016. The final deeming regulations were officially published on May 10, 2016, and became effective 90 days later on Aug. 8, 2016.
The deeming rule changed the vaping industry. Many would say it nearly decimated it. The FDA’s channels for manufacturers and retailers to gain permission to sell their products threatened to put them out of business. According to the Brooklyn Law Review in a 2017 paper, “Through the far-reaching ‘Deeming Rule,’ e-cigarette manufacturers are forced to comply with financially burdensome and time-consuming requirements before taking most of their products to market.”
The Juul Experience
Credit: Insurance Journal
In 2015, we had our first introduction to Juul Labs. During a tobacco industry event in New York, Brian Haynes, with Troutman Pepper, and myself were shown a Juul device by Gal Cohen, Juul Labs’ head of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs. We snuck off into the back corner of a bar together, and he let us both take a few puffs. He wouldn’t let us have one. It blew our minds. We knew then that it was potentially an industry-altering product.
Juul altered the industry too. Its impact could be summed up as “the good, the bad and the ugly.” The good was that Juul was a technological marvel at the time. The Juul device helped smokers switch to vaping faster than any product before it. Sales began to soar. Juul was the catalyst for the rapid growth of the vaping industry from 2016 to 2019.
In 2017, Kevin Burns joined Juul Labs as CEO about two years after the company launched Juul. Juul was estimated to make up about 40 percent of the e-cigarette industry at that time. Then, in December 2018, Altria Group invested $12.8 billion in Juul Labs, acquiring a 35 percent interest and valuing the company at $38 billion. Altria claimed Juul Labs would remain a fully independent company.
Soon after Altria’s investment, Juul Labs began to decline. The company and its advertising practices came under fire. The FDA accused Juul of creating a vaping “epidemic” by hooking youth on vapes, and Burns even went as far as to say he would apologize to parents whose “children were addicted to the company’s products” as concern grew around the teen vaping epidemic.
There was also the great EVALI scare. The outbreak of “e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury,” to use the outbreak’s official but misleading name, started in 2019 and was caused by illegal, unregulated cannabis vaping products laced with vitamin E acetate. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, wrongly blamed nicotine vaping products. This episode, too, almost ended the e-cigarette industry.
EVALI and the youth “epidemic” became too much of a burden for Juul Labs. Burns resigned as CEO of the company in September 2019. K.C. Crosthwaite, who was serving as the chief growth officer for Altria, was named his successor. In October 2019, Juul Labs announced it would be laying off about 500 employees by the end of the year. Several Juul Labs executives also moved on from the troubled company that year.
Stung by Juul’s disappointing performance, Altria announced in October 2019 that it was reducing the value of its investment in Juul by $4.5 billion. In January 2020, the FDA issued a policy prioritizing enforcement against unauthorized flavored e-cigarette products that appeal to kids, including fruit and mint flavors. However, the flavor restriction didn’t apply to disposable e-cigarettes. “Under this policy, companies that do not cease manufacture, distribution and sale of unauthorized flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes (other than tobacco or menthol) within 30 days risk FDA enforcement actions,” the agency stated.
Juul subsequently pulled all its flavored pods from the U.S. market except for tobacco and menthol. The impact of the FDA’s rule was devastating for the pod-based Juul and all other pod-based vaping systems. By October 2020, Altria further reduced Juul’s valuation to approximately $10 billion. By March 2021, the valuation was cut to $4.3 billion; by March 2022, it was reduced to $1.6 billion. In July 2022, the valuation of Juul Labs was further cut down to $450 million, which was only 3.5 percent of its original value.
The fall of Juul may go on to be one of the most significant corporate collapses of this century. Coupled with the FDA’s nonenforcement policy of flavored disposable vaping products, Juul Labs’ downfall caused substantial changes in the vaping industry. No longer were pod systems a dominant force. Instead, sales of disposable vaping products exploded.
Disposables are King
Njoy ACE
The vapor industry has grown dramatically since Vapor Voice started publishing. In 2014, the vaping industry was worth an estimated $7.2 billion, according to Statista. In 2023, its value had grown to more than $23 billion. The global vaping industry is expected to reach more than $26 billion by 2028. The disposable e-cigarette market size was valued at $5.7 billion in 2021 and is poised to grow from $6.8 billion in 2022 to $14.8 billion by 2030, according to SkyQuest Technology.
While favored by consumers, disposable products present their own issues for the industry. It started with the rise of Puff Bar, which entered the U.S. market in 2019. At the time, it was owned by Cool Clouds Distribution of California. Cool Clouds sold Puff Bar to the brand’s Chinese manufacturer, DS Technology Licensing, in early 2020.
During the summer of 2020, the FDA instructed Puff Bar to stop selling its products. This decision was made because Puff Bar became a popular alternative to Juul after the latter discontinued some of its flavored products. Critics accused Puff Bar of targeting young people. In February 2021, Puff Bar resumed sales with a new design and synthetic nicotine, which, at the time, was not regulated by the FDA. Most disposable makers followed the same playbook. In 2020, U.S. lawmakers asked the FDA to force Puff Bar off the market.
Puff Bar sales began to decline; however, it wasn’t long before another disposable brand, Elf Bar, took over the market. Founded in 2007, iMiracle Shenzhen Technology was originally an e-commerce firm. In 2018, the company switched to disposable e-cigarettes and launched the Elf Bar brand with synthetic nicotine. In 2022, the FDA said it needed Congress to act to bring synthetic nicotine under its purview.
Congress closed the loophole last year. Under the new rules, companies were supposed to remove their flavored synthetic vapes from the market and file premarket tobacco product applications with the FDA. New products continued to be launched anyway. Puff Bar and Elf Bar began introducing products under different brand names, and thousands of other manufacturers followed suit.
This is where the industry stands today. Disposables dominate the market while pod systems continue to trail far behind. However, the FDA has tried to clamp down on the growth of illegal disposables. The agency has issued over 550 warning letters and more than 100 civil money penalty actions to retailers for selling unauthorized e-cigarettes.
Primarily, the regulatory agency’s actions have proved ineffective. Few retailers responded to the FDA’s actions. This has forced many states to step in. Due to the federal agency’s inability to control illegal flavored products, many state legislatures have introduced premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) registry bills. These bills require retailers only to sell products on a state list filled with products authorized by the FDA (of which there are only 23) and products with a PMTA under review by the regulatory agency. The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association (CASAA) has issued calls to action for several registry bills. Vaping companies are also being sued for selling flavored disposables without authorization.
Credit: Postmodern Studio
Altria and BAT subsidiary R.J. Reynolds (the maker of Vuse vaping products) have taken legal action to kill their vape competition. Last October, Altria subsidiary Njoy filed a lawsuit in a federal district court against dozens of manufacturers, distributors and retailers of disposable vapes, including the Breeze, Elf Bar, Esco Bar, Flum, Juice Box, Lava Plus, Loon, Lost Mary, Mr. Fog and Puff Bar brands. Njoy asked the court to bar imports by the companies and said it would “consider further litigation activity.”
In January, a U.S. District Court in California dismissed the lawsuit against many of the disposable vape manufacturers, distributors and retailers. The court found that the defendants did not participate in “the same transaction, occurrence or series of transactions or occurrences,” and therefore were improperly joined in the lawsuit. However, the case against iMiracle, the manufacturer of Elf Bar, has not been dismissed. The case is still pending.
The environmental impact of disposables is also a growing issue. Many companies are moving away from these products as more countries and U.S. states seek to ban them. Martin Miller, Chief Commercial Officer for Plxsur, a company that recently reached $1 billion in consolidated revenues, (see “Keeping Pace,” pg. 18) said safeguarding the environment and delivering safe and innovative products are core to the company’s sustainability agenda.
“We have worked closely with our partner companies to put in place commercial strategies to migrate consumers away from disposables. Our Italian business, Puff [no relation to Puff Bar], has already successfully migrated many of its consumers using disposables to pod and open devices,” he said. “These alternative products have already outperformed legacy single-use vapes by volume. Adding to this, migration away from disposables is present across our entire group, with Ireland-based Hale having already launched a new pod system and others with an ever-growing portfolio of owned and third-party pod systems.”
The e-cigarette industry is still growing rapidly. The Federal Trade Commission issued its third report on e-cigarette sales and advertising nationwide in April. The report found that combined sales of cartridge-based and disposable e-cigarette products to U.S. consumers by nine leading manufacturers increased by approximately $370 million between 2020 and 2021. The total topped $2.67 billion. E-cigarette companies spent $90.6 million more advertising and promoting their products in 2021 than in 2020.
Reported sales of cartridge products increased from $2.133 billion in 2020 to $2.496 billion in 2021; sales of disposable, non-refillable e-cigarette products increased from $261.9 million in 2020 to $267.1 million in 2021. As technology improves and new products come to market, vaping products will continue to save the lives of many combustible tobacco smokers. That’s one thing that isn’t going to change any time soon.
The CTP’s inability to apply its enforcement priorities often leaves state regulators and businesses baffled.
By Rich Hill
The recent onslaught of vapor registry bills in the United States is creating a lot of anxiety. Proposed registries have brought tension to public hearings and drama on social media. Unfortunately, like most current domestic issues, neither side appears to appreciate the perspective of the other. While only a handful of states have enacted product registries, many legislatures have considered and/or are considering such legislation. Understanding what these registries do, why they are promoted and their consequences is essential for all sides of this debate.
Rationale for Developing Vapor Product Registries
At present, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) has granted marketing authorization for only a handful of tobacco-flavored vapor products and insists that all other vapor products are illegal. That said, the CTP has communicated its enforcement priorities related to deemed products numerous times. More specifically, the CTP has indicated its intention to prioritize enforcement efforts concerning certain deemed tobacco products (1) not covered by timely filed premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs), (2) that have been the subject of marketing denial orders or those covered by PMTAs subject to negative determinations, including those rejected on procedural grounds (i.e., refuse-to-accept or refuse-to-file letters), and (3) that raise youth-use concerns.
Unfortunately, the CTP’s inability to apply these enforcement priorities consistently to the ever-changing and large number of unscrupulous manufacturers often leaves state regulators and businesses baffled about which products are at increased risk of enforcement action.
In short, this circumstance, with thousands of products remaining the subject of pending PMTAs that fall outside of the scope of the CTP’s enforcement priorities being sold alongside thousands of noncompliant flavored disposable vapor products, many of which fall within the scope of the FDA’s enforcement priorities, creates confusion in the marketplace and for state product regulators. Given the shortfalls in enforcement against vapor products that are not the subject of still-pending PMTAs, state tobacco regulators need a mechanism by which to determine which products should and should not be sold in their states—hence the value of vapor product registries.
Rich Hill
How Do Vapor Product Registry Bills Work?
Vapor product registry bills establish registries requiring companies to submit evidence demonstrating that products that have FDA marketing granted orders are the subject of pending PMTAs filed by specified dates related to PMTA deadlines or are the subject of administrative or judicial reviews. For example, registration in Louisiana requires manufacturers to attest to the marketing granted or still-pending PMTA status of each product and pay a registration fee. Then these products will be placed on a public-facing registry.
Positive Aspects of Product Registry Bills
Regardless of one’s position on registry bills, the legislation at least has the potential to create positive change. By way of example, registry bills can:
Provide objective criteria. Vapor product registries can theoretically provide objective criteria upon which wholesalers and retailers can rely in making purchasing decisions. While there will be fewer products available, these products may be purchased without the threat of state regulatory enforcement.
Supplement CTP enforcement resources. The CTP has limited enforcement resources. While flavored disposable vapor products have been a high enforcement priority for the center, these products still proliferate the retail space. Vapor registries could aid in making up for the CTP’s enforcement limitations.
Target youth-friendly products. The 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey reported that certain flavored disposable vapor products make up the majority of products used by youth. Registries may help in clearing the market of these products that lack pending PMTAs and are the most popular among youth.
Generate Revenue. Of course, registries also provide another revenue stream for state governments. With registration fees for each product, the amounts are not insignificant.
Consequences of Vapor Product Registries
All legislation and policy decisions invariably come with costs. Vapor product registries are no different. Some examples include:
Inhibit harm reduction efforts. Vapor products are harm reduction tools that benefit adult cigarette smokers seeking to quit or reduce their combustible cigarette use. Prohibiting access to such products prohibits access to the tools necessary to reduce combustible cigarette-related mortality and morbidity.
May not slow bad actors. Bad actors will continue to be bad actors. If a company violates the rules now, there is little reason to believe that a vapor product registry will prevent such actions.
Burden state resources. States are continuing to be required to do more without increased resources. In many instances, state tobacco regulatory enforcement agencies may simply lack the resources to effectively enforce registry requirements.
Innovation outpaces regulation. As the industry has observed before, evolution in the space moves more quickly than the regulatory arms can keep up. Innovative products falling outside of the scope of existing regulatory structures undoubtedly will winnow the effectiveness of product registries in the future. Indeed, most recently, innovations such as nicotine analog products are not covered by most registry bills.
Prohibitive scope can be too broad. In several instances, products not within the scope of the problem are swept into the “solution.” In a number of cases, modern oral nicotine products—products that sit at the lowest levels of the continuum of risk—are included in these product registry bills, which continues to undercut harm reduction efforts.
Final Thoughts
The problems that created the need for product registry legislation will continue. Until federal regulators embrace a harm reduction agenda and provide adult smokers, who will not or cannot quit, the products that have been demonstrated to assist their transition away from combustible cigarettes, the marketplace, whether legitimate or not, will respond by making them available. Vapor product registries, in and of themselves, will not solve the problems in isolation. The policies driving the need for such registries, ineffectual prohibitionist policies, need attention as well. Until the collective vapor product space, including manufacturers, retailers and consumers, aggressively advocates for policy change, new laws and regulations further limiting the ability to serve adult consumers are likely to evolve.
Richard Hill is senior director of E-Alternative Solutions.
The Communist Party of China has expelled Ling Chengxing, former head of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, reports The China Daily, citing an April 22 announcement by the country’s top anti-graft watchdogs.
According to the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision, Ling violated the party’s disciplines, committed duty-related illegalities and is suspected of bribery and abuse of authority.
Among other transgressions, Ling accepted banquets, sought benefits for relatives in employment and school admissions, and secured benefits for others in the cadres selection and appointment, the agency said.
Liang also accepted gifts, sought special treatment in transportation and medical care for his relatives and used his position to benefit others in business operations, employee hiring and job promotions.
In return he accepted large amounts of property, according to the allegations.
Originally from Jiangxi province, Ling joined the Party in 1977 and began working in 1980. He held positions, including executive vice-governor of the province.
Ling was the head of China Tobacco from May 2013 until his retirement in July 2018. He was placed under investigation in October 2023.
Health advocates are urging the government of Pakistan to reject an application by Pakistan Tobacco Co. (PTC) for permission to pack cigarettes in cartons of 10 sticks, reports The Nation.
According to Malik Imran Ahmed, country head of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 10-stick packs would undermine efforts to discourage smoking among young people and other at-risk demographics.
To deter consumption by minors and other at-risk groups, Pakistan law requires tobacco companies to sell cigarettes in packs of at least 20 cigarettes. Sales of individual sticks are permitted, however.
The rule is placing at risk a large order for PTC to deliver $20.5 million worth of cigarettes to Sudan by mid-May. The contract requires PTC to supply the cigarettes in packs of 10 sticks each. Sudan does not have minimum stick laws, according to PTC officials.
PTC has requested the government to amend the rules and limit the 10-pack selling restriction to domestic consumption, according to Tribune.
The Ministry of Health has referred the matter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to seek its input on the matter in light of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
In 2019, PTC also lost an export order due to a lack of clarity on 10-pack cigarette manufacturing. At that time, the Ministry of Commerce gave the go-ahead for exports, but the Ministry of Health objected.
PTC has been exporting cigarettes since 2019 and has earned $156 million from that business to date. In 2023, the company paid PKR148 billion ($531.35 million) in taxes, making it the country’s second-largest taxpayer after Pakistan State Oil.
Activists are urging U.K. lawmakers to close “loopholes” in the ban on disposable vapes that is set to take effect next April, reports the BBC.
In anticipation of the measure, manufacturers such as Elfbar and Lost Mary have been launching reusable versions of their popular disposable vapes.
“We are continuing to diversify our product lines by providing viable alternatives to single-use devices, addressing the demand for a harm reduction tool that is helping to assist millions of adults [to quit smoking],” an Elfbar spokesman was quoted as saying.
The reusable versions differ from their disposable counterparts primarily in that nicotine liquid comes in a replaceable pod, and a USB port at the bottom allows the battery to be recharged. It means the body of the vape can be reused.
Critics contend that the new vapes will not deliver the environmental benefits envisioned by the ban. “This switch may have negligible environmental impact as these are still items which are low priced and easy to throw away,” said Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus, a non-profit organization set up tackle electrical waste.
A spokesman for the Local Government Association, which was one of the leading voices calling for the ban said the addition of a USB port to disposable vapes amounted to an attempt to bypass the restrictions, and called on lawmakers to define “disposable” in a way that would prevent producers from exploiting loopholes
In a filing with Companies House, the U.K. registrar of businesses, Elf Bar and Lost Mary distributor Green Fun Alliance noted that the disposable vape ban would have a detrimental effect on sales and profitability.
“However, management have been preparing for this and are well equipped to pivot their business to the exclusive sale of non-disposable vapes and related products,” the company wrote.
BAT will establish a HUF60 billion ($162.12 billion) factory for smokeless products in Pecs, Hungary, creating 450 new jobs, reports Hungary Today.
BAT already employs almost 1,000 people. According to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, the project will contribute to the success of two important Hungarian economic policy objectives—to boost exports and protect the environment. The Pecs factory is carbon neutral and will export more than 80 percent of its products, the minister noted.
The project will also help develop Hungary’s southwestern region, which traditionally has received fewer investments than its western counterparts.
Usman Zahur, BAT’s regional director for Central Europe, pointed out that the Pecs unit could become a major manufacturing center for smokeless alternatives, building on more than 30 years of cooperation with Hungary.
“This significant investment is an important step toward a smoke-free world, offering smokers better alternatives to cigarettes,” he was quoted as saying. “The investment further reinforces Hungary’s strategic importance in our long-term plans to have 50 percent of our revenues from new category products by 2035. Our manufacturing capabilities, highlighted by the Pecs center, are key to achieving this goal.”
Parkside has appointed Luke Clark as its new business development manager.
Boasting almost 20 years of experience working in sales roles within the packaging industry, Clark will focus on growing Parkside’s consumer goods and tobacco segments as the company looks to further enhance its plans across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
“I am delighted to join Parkside to help drive our business forward,” said Clark in a statement. “We have a long-established reputation across the flexible packaging market for service and quality coupled with a broad and innovative product range meeting many of the ever-changing market demands and needs. The opportunity to help present these to customers is something I’m looking forward to.
“I have known Luke for over 10 years,” said Parkside Group Sales Director Paul McKeown. “I am aware of his background knowledge and his skill set in the flexible packaging sector. His ambition, energy and development plans match those of us here at Parkside. We are excited to see what Luke will achieve as he works with the Parkside team to bring our sustainable portfolio and market-leading technical capabilities to the market.”
Malawi authorities are urging farmers to tap into the Chinese tobacco and soybeans markets, reports Xinhua.
During the Agriculture Investment Conference on April 19 in Lilongwe, Alfred Mwenifumbo, controller of agriculture, extension and technical services, said sales to China would boost foreign exchange earnings and strengthen the economy.
Dominated by smallholder growers, Malawi’s tobacco industry could benefit greatly from the Chinese market, Mwenifumbo said. He encouraged large-scale farmers to join the industry to improve the quality of Malawian tobacco and compete with other countries.
Mwenifumbo suggested that Malawi could increase its forex earnings by up to 30 times if more commercial farmers with large landholdings entered the industry and accessed the Chinese market, noting that existing investors are ready to support local farmers in expanding their operations to seize market opportunities.
The conference also discussed the investment potential in crops such as macadamia nuts, groundnuts, wheat and maize, highlighting their significant returns.
Tobacco Reporter highlighted Malawi’s efforts to diverse its economy in its June 2023 issue (see “Broadening the Base”).
