Imperial Brands announced today the ‘disposal’ in the US of a range of other tobacco products, including roll-your-own brands, tubes, tips, cigarette papers and other accessories.
In a note posted on its website, Imperial said the disposal simplified its portfolio in the US, ‘enabling us to further sharpen our focus on driving revenue growth in the USA from our core US tobacco brands and next generation products’.
“We are clear on our strategic priorities and focus for growth and are proactively actioning capital reallocation opportunities to generate additional shareholder value,” said chief executive, Alison Cooper (pictured). “The disposal of our US OTP business is an example arising from the ongoing review of our assets.
“In next generation products, we are focused on delivering an exceptional consumer experience and we are investing behind an exciting innovation pipeline. Our product and market launch programs are on track with the recent launches of myblu in the USA and the UK, with additional markets coming on stream in the next few months. In tobacco, our investment focus continues to deliver share gains in our Growth Brands and priority markets.”
Category: Other Tobacco Products
Imperial drops US OTP
Strung out on nicotine
The US Food and Drug Administration says that its release of an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) in respect of nicotine is a major step on the path to changing ‘dramatically’ the future of smoking in the US and saving millions of lives.
The ANPRM, Tobacco Product Standard for Nicotine Level of Combusted Cigarettes, is seeking public comment for consideration in developing a potential nicotine product standard.
The FDA believes that lowering nicotine to a minimally- or non-addictive level ‘could potentially save millions of lives, both in the near and long-terms’.
‘The ANPRM includes newly published estimates of one possible policy scenario for a nicotine product standard, including that approximately five million additional adult smokers could quit smoking within one year of implementation, compared to the baseline scenario,’ the FDA said in a note issued through its Center for Tobacco Products.
‘However, an even greater impact could be felt over time: by the year 2100, its estimated more than 33 million people – mostly youth and young adults – would have avoided becoming regular smokers. This could result in more than eight million fewer tobacco-caused deaths through the end of the century.
‘In July 2017, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., announced a new comprehensive plan that places nicotine – and the issue of addiction – at the center of the agency’s tobacco regulation efforts. As the cornerstone of the plan, the release of today’s [March 15] ANPRM is a major step on the path to dramatically changing the future of smoking in the United States and saving millions of lives.’
More information is at: https://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/NewsEvents/ucm600955.htm?utm_source=Eloqua&utm_medium=email&utm_term=StratComms&utm_content=webemail&utm_campaign=CTPConnect%26News%26SOS%3A%20Special%20Announcement%20Nicotine%20ANPRM%20-%2031518.
Meanwhile, Gottlieb said in a statement that the ANPRM provided a wide-ranging review of the current scientific understanding about the role nicotine played in creating or sustaining addiction to cigarettes. It sought comments on key areas, as well as additional research and data for public review, as the FDA continued its consideration of developing a nicotine product standard.
‘We’re interested in public input on critical questions such as: what potential maximum nicotine level would be appropriate for the protection of public health?,’ the statement said. ‘Should a product standard be implemented all at once or gradually? What unintended consequences – such as the potential for illicit trade or for addicted smokers to compensate for lower nicotine by smoking more – might occur as a result? As we explore this novel approach to reducing the death and disease from combustible cigarettes, it’s critical that our policies reflect the latest science and is informed by the input we receive from our meetings with stakeholders, comments to the open public docket and future opportunities for comment.’
Gottlieb said also that the FDA’s plan demonstrated a greater awareness that nicotine, while highly addictive, was delivered through products on a continuum of risk, and that in order to address cigarette addiction successfully, it had to make it possible for current adult smokers who still sought nicotine to get it from alternative and less harmful sources.
‘To that end, the agency’s regulation of both novel nicotine delivery products such as e-cigarettes and traditional tobacco products will encourage the innovation of less harmful products while still ensuring that all tobacco products are put through an appropriate series of regulatory gates to maximize any public health benefits and minimize their harms,’ Gottlieb said. ‘This will be achieved through our ongoing regulatory work to develop several foundational rules, guidances, product standards and other regulations.’
Gottlieb said also that the FDA planned shortly to issue two additional ANPRMs: one to seek comment on the role that flavors – including menthol – played in initiation, use and cessation of tobacco products. ‘A second ANPRM will solicit additional comments and data related to the regulation of premium cigars.
‘At the same time we’re also jump-starting new work to re-evaluate and modernize our approach to the development and regulation of safe and effective medicinal nicotine replacement products such as nicotine gums, patches and lozenges that help smokers quit. This is a pivotal part of our overall public health approach.’
Gottlieb’s statement is at: https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm601039.htm.Smoking frozen out
An Icelandic doctor has credited vaping with contributing to a dramatic decline in the number of smokers in Iceland, according to a story by Paul Fontaine for grapevine.is.
Guðmundur Karl Snæbjörnsson described vaping as “a great blessing” for Icelanders’ health.
In 2014, 14 percent of the population or 35,000 people self-identified as smokers, figures that had fallen to nine percent and 22,000 by 2017.
The 37 percent drop in the number of smokers was attributable in part to an increase in vaping, Guðmundur told reporters.
Cigarette sales had dropped by 50 percent from 2008 to 2017, while vaping had been on the rise, and now, about 20,000 Icelanders vaped daily or less frequently.
“Smoking has been falling like a rock like we’ve never seen before,” Guðmundur was reported to have said. “The biggest contributing factors have been mouth-tobacco and vaping, which have clearly been wiping smoking out.”
Iceland currently has no clearly defined laws about the contents, sale and distribution of vaping products.
Although a bill was introduced last year that set limits on e-fluid strength and quantities; that bill was strongly opposed by vape shop owners and ended up dying in committee.Pyrrhic victory
The Israeli Knesset’s Finance Committee has approved a measure to tax heated-tobacco products such as Philip Morris International’s IQOS at 65 percent of the retail price, in line with the tax on cigarettes, according to a story by Chana Roberts for Arutz Sheva, relayed by the TMA.
Anti-smoking groups Avir Naki and Smoke Free Israel, and bipartisan members of the Knesset (MK), had been lobbying the Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and the Finance Committee head Moshe Gafni to tax these products.
The groups and the Likud MK Yehuda Glick had asked the Supreme Court to force Kahlon to tax IQOS as cigarettes “until there is substantial, and substantiated, proof that IQOS are not as harmful as regular cigarettes.”
The new tax is expected to generate NIS120 million (US$34. million) annually.
Meanwhile, PMI was said to have emphasized that the company would concentrate on ‘rolling tobacco’ instead of products claimed to be a ‘better alternative’ to regular cigarettes.Ghanaians battling NCDs
The Ghana Non-Communicable Disease Alliance (GNCDA) is worried about what it sees as an upsurge of alcoholism and ‘excessive smoking’ in the country, especially among young Ghanaians, according to a story broadcast by the Ghana Broadcasting Corp.
Speaking at the official launch of the GNCDA in Accra, the group’s vice chairperson, Adams Ebenezer, said that exposing children to these harmful products was a violation of their human rights.
The GNCDA is a newly-formed network of Non-Governmental Organizations that was officially registered this year with the mission of becoming a leading organization contributing to reducing NCD-related deaths and disabilities, and improving the quality of lives of people living with NCDs.
It aims to support and complement the government.
Shisha tobacco had become a lifestyle product among many of the country’s young people, who were ignorant about the danger posed by the use of this product, Ebenezer said. Research had shown that a session of shisha smoking was the equivalent of smoking 100-150 cigarettes.
Ebenezer said the only known way of reducing health issues such as lung cancer, oral cancer, neck cancer, heart disease, hypertension, obesity and extreme poverty was to exercise absolute control over tobacco use, exposure to tobacco smoke and alcohol.Loose tobacco in fine shape
The popularity of smoking tobacco has been growing in Australia since 2014 and, by last year, had taken the per capita consumption of licit products to 90.8g, according to the data and analytics company GlobalData.
A GlobalData press note did not say what the per capita consumption had been prior to 2017.
Overall, the market for smoking tobacco, which is hugely dominated by fine-cut, includes too a considerable amount of “chop-chop” or illicit loose tobacco.
GlobalData says in its report, Smoking Tobacco in Australia, 2018, that the growth in smoking tobacco sales had come about partly because tax hikes on manufactured cigarettes had rendered fine-cut competitively priced.
Meanwhile, the press note said that the market share of manufactured cigarettes within the total licit tobacco sector had declined from 92.4 percent in 2007 to 86.9 percent in 2017, while, during the same period, the market share of fine-cut had gone from 6.8 percent to 12.6 percent.
And it said that the increases in smoking tobacco’s volumes and market share had been driven by strong growth in sales of fine cut, which accounted for 99.6 percent of the smoking tobacco market; while pipe tobacco sales had continued their steady decline.
Volume sales of smoking tobacco are said to have increased by 29.5 percent between 2007 and 2017, but the prospects for the fine-cut market are said to be mixed. In the short term, GlobalData said, volumes would continue to expand, but the long-term prospects were more pessimistic as a result of ever-tightening regulatory restrictions.
‘Australia is a highly regulated market and the government has been using tax policies to curb tobacco consumption,’ GlobalData said in a press note. ‘Smoking appears to be in decline with the latest data placing adult smoking at only 14.9 percent, compared to almost 30 percent in 1990.’
Ranjan Singh, tobacco markets analyst at GlobalData was quoted as saying that while it seemed that the country’s smoking population had stabilized, current strategies aimed at making smoking more expensive and more restricted could can be expected to reduce smoking further.Canada in dialogue
The Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) is due to stage a free-to-attend, tobacco-harm-reduction dialogue in Vancouver, Canada, in April.
The dialogue, Tobacco harm reduction: different strokes for different folks, or a consistent approach?, is to be held in partnership with the BC Centre for Disease Control and the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.
It will be held from 09.00 to 16.30 on April 9, at the Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue in Vancouver.
‘The huge growth in the availability of safer nicotine products, with new technologies, such as vaping and heat not burn, as well as oral tobacco products, such as snus, has created greater opportunities for smokers to switch from a proven dangerous and unhealthy way to consume nicotine to much safer methods, according to a press note from the GFN, which has previously run series of dialogues in the UK and Ireland.
‘The emerging science surrounding both the technology and the products is positive and encouraging.
‘Vancouver has a proud tradition for supporting harm reduction for illicit drug use, including pioneering supervised consumption rooms for injecting drug use. The principles of harm reduction are well understood and have been enacted for many years with positive results.’
Participants will be addressed by international and local presenters, including:- Dr. Mark Tyndall, executive medical director, BC Centre for Disease Control;
- Professor Marjorie MacDonald, School of Nursing, University of Victoria;
- Professor Gerry Stimson, professor emeritus, Imperial College, London;
- Jacques Le Houezec, independent consultant in public health and tobacco dependence, France;
The presenters are due to examine:
- The history of harm reduction in Vancouver, the lessons learnt and the implications for this approach in relation to tobacco and smoking.
- Tobacco harm reduction as the ‘new kid on the block’ and what the emerging evidence is telling us.
- What does regulation look like and what are the elements that make for appropriate and effective regulation?
- The consumer experience – what products do people use and what are the results for them?
- What are the key issues for policy-makers and how can we ensure buy-in from all stakeholders?
Attendance at the dialogues is free, but participants are required to register at: https://gfn.net.co/dialogues/register.
More details about the dialogue are at: https://gfn.net.co/dialogues/vancouver-2018.SM snus volumes up
Swedish Match’s volume shipments of snus in Scandinavia during the 12 months to the end of December, at 247.6 million cans, were increased by three percent on those of the year to the end of December 2016, 241.3 million cans.
But despite the volume increase, SM’s share of Sweden’s snus market fell by 2.1 percentage points, from 67.3 percent during 2016 to 65.2 percent during 2017. And it’s share of Norway’s snus market fell by 1.4 percentage points to 52.1 percent.
Meanwhile, SM’s volume shipments of moist snuff on the US market during 2017, at 127.4 million cans were down by three percent on those of 2016, 131.4 million cans.
Also in the US, the company’s volume shipments of cigars in 2017, at 1,629 million, were increased by 11 percent on those of 2016, 1,472 million.
But, during the same period, volume shipments of chewing tobacco, excluding contract manufacturing volumes, at 6,341,000 pounds, were down by five percent from 6,709,000 lb.
SM’s worldwide shipments of matches during 2017, at 65.0 billion sticks, were down by 10 percent on those of 2016, 72.0 billion sticks.
During the same period, worldwide shipments of lighters fell by eight percent from 399.2 million to 368.1 million.
In announcing its results, SM said that, in local currencies, sales had increased by six percent for the fourth quarter and by thee percent for the full year. Reported sales had increased by two percent to SEK4,044 million for the fourth quarter and by four percent to SEK16,101 million for the full year.
In local currencies, operating profit from product areas (excluding larger one-off items and a share of the net profit of the Scandinavian Tobacco Group [STG] in 2016) increased by 15 percent for the fourth quarter and by five percent for the full year. Reported operating profit from product areas increased by nine percent to SEK1,044 million for the fourth quarter and by six percent to SEK4,218 million for the full year.
Operating profit amounted to SEK1,179 million for the fourth quarter and to SEK4,591 million for the full year.
Profit after tax amounted to SEK904 million for the fourth quarter and to SEK3,400 million for the full year.
Earnings per share amounted to SEK5.10 for the fourth quarter and to SEK18.88 for the full year. Earnings per share excluding larger one-time items, dividends from STG in 2017 and share of net profit in STG in 2016 increased by 17 percent to SEK4.24 for the fourth quarter and by 14 percent to SEK16.39 for the full year.
“I am very pleased with Swedish Match’s performance in 2017 – a year of solid growth, with higher sales and operating profit from product areas,” said CEO Lars Dahlgren.
“Investments that we have made within our consumer insights and R&D functions have strengthened our portfolio of smokeless offerings, and we have supplemented organic efforts through acquisitions.
“In recent years, global tobacco competitors have signaled a shift in their strategic agendas to acknowledge the role of less harmful alternatives. With our vision of a world without cigarettes and long history of offering tobacco consumers significantly less harmful products, Swedish Match has pioneered this effort.”EU in denial over snus
The uptake of snus in Norway is being credited with almost eliminating cigarette smoking among young people living there.
In a note published on its website today, the New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) said that government figures showed the incidence of smoking among women aged 16-24 was down from 30 percent in 2001 to 0.1 percent, while the incidence of smoking among young men was down from 29 percent to three percent.
The NNA said that the fall in smoking among Norway’s young people did not appear to be the result of their switching to vaping because nicotine-containing electronic-cigarettes were only now being legalised.
A more likely explanation seems to be presented by a sharp increase that has occurred in the use of snus. During 2008-14, snus use among young women grew from five percent to 14 percent.
In neighbouring Sweden, where snus is also legal, 20 percent of the population use snus and there the adult smoking rate has fallen to five percent.
Last month the European Court of Justice held a hearing on whether the EU ban on snus outside Sweden should be lifted, an action that has been supported by the NNA.
Its trustee Professor Gerry Stimson was quoted as saying that any reasonable person looking at the spectacular graph for smoking among young Norwegians would be struck by how the fall accelerated after snus became available in 2002.
“This is no fluke,” he said. “The end of smoking is in sight in Norway and Sweden as people choose far safer snus instead.
“So reasonable people will ask why the UK government decided to urge the European Court of Justice to maintain the snus ban in the rest of the EU.”
His comments were echoed by the smoking-substitutes expert Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos who said there was absolutely no doubt that access to snus in Sweden and Norway had played a crucial role in the rapid reduction of their smoking rates.Ban has a silver lining
Kenya’s ban on shisha has opened up further opportunities for sales of electronic cigarettes, according to a story in Citizen Digital.
Now more than ever, electronic cigarettes and vaping are being popularized in Kenya as netizens share their vaping videos on social media.
Speaking to Citizen Digital, a Kenyan vape retailer reportedly said that e-cigarettes had always been available locally, but that the banning of shisha had opened new opportunities. Retailers were importing more vapes as a preferable alternative for a hungry smoking market.
“The vapes are now on a higher demand because with it you can smoke anything you want, from soft drinks, beverages, tobacco, liquid shisha and even liquid marijuana; it is a safer option compared to smoking shisha from a pot,” said the retailer.
