The Tobacco Farmers Union (TFU) has urged the government of Zimbabwe to make contracting companies treat small-scale farmers as equal partners in the production process, reports Newsday.
The union said farmers’ interest in growing tobacco had decreased because contractors were claiming the lion’s share of earnings realized from the sale of the crop.
Zimbabwe is one of the world’s biggest tobacco exporters, having produced 190 million kg last year, earning farmers about $748 million.
But official statistics indicate that farmers paid back $400 million to contracting companies, leaving them with only $350 million.
“Tobacco contract farming in Zimbabwe does not benefit the ordinary farmer,” the TFU said in a statement ahead of the start of this year’s marketing season.
The season is expected to kick off next month if regulators are convinced that World Health Organization protocols on controlling Covid-19 are adhered to, according to Tobacco Industry Marketing Board CEO Andrew Matibiri.
The German government has proposed a new tax for nicotine-containing vapor products, which would be effective in summer 2022.
The new tax is “a response to current market developments.” It would include a tax of €0.02 ($0.02) per mg of nicotine for e-liquids, effective July 1, 2022. Beginning Jan. 1, 2024, the tax would double by the end of 2026.
“This is appropriate for reasons of fair taxation since only nicotine-containing substances in e-cigarettes are to be regarded as substitutes for cigarettes,” the draft of the proposed Tobacco Tax Modernization Act states. Authorities are also justifying the decision based on the “existing risk potential” of vapor products compared to traditional tobacco products.
“They are not harmless consumer products and can cause serious illnesses,” the draft bill states.
Lawmakers expect the new tax to bring in €135 million in 2022 and up to €2.9 billion by 2026.
The German Alliance for Tobacco-free Pleasure (BfTG) says the plan “makes no sense.”
“The tax would make smoking cheaper than vaping and make e-liquids many times more expensive,” BfTG chairman Dustin Dahlmann told ECigIntelligence, warning that it could lead to a flourishing black market and a collapsing legal industry, such as in Italy and Estonia. The BfTG believes taxation should be left at the EU level.
Currently, vapor products are not specially taxed. They are subject to the 19 percent value-added tax, however.
Altria Group has reaffirmed its guidance for 2021 full-year adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) to be in a range of $4.49 to $4.62, representing a growth rate of 3 percent to 6 percent from an adjusted diluted EPS base of $4.36 in 2020.
Speaking at the virtual Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference on Feb. 17, CEO Billy Gifford, and CFO Sal Mancuso discussed how Altria is “moving beyond smoking,” advancing its 10-year vision and continuing to focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives to create long-term shareholder value through sustainability.
“The pursuit of our vision is about sustainability and businesses that are aligned with the responsibility expectations of our stakeholders,” said Gifford. “We have an unmatched portfolio of noncombustible products in the U.S. market today that we’re rapidly expanding, we’re investing in research and development on innovative noncombustible products and we believe we can continue to deliver significant value for our shareholders while moving beyond smoking.”
In its presentation, Altria announced its new corporate responsibility focus areas and shared examples of its continued ESG leadership. Altria published the first in a series of corporate responsibility progress reports: Engage and Lead Responsibly. This report details Altria’s new 2025 corporate responsibility goals.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is scheduled to publish in the Federal Register its rules for mailing electronic nicotine-delivery system (ENDS) products tomorrow, Feb. 19. The unpublished rule states that the prohibition on mailing ENDS will apply immediately “on and after” the date of the final rule.
However, the Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act, which placed ENDS under the PACT Act, was enacted on Dec. 27, 2020, and becomes effective 90 days after enactment (March 27, 2021).
Under the USPO rule, the agency will mail vapor products under narrowly defined circumstances:
Noncontiguous States: intrastate shipments within Alaska or Hawaii
Business/Regulatory Purposes: shipments transmitted between verified and authorized tobacco industry businesses for business purposes, or between such businesses and federal or state agencies for regulatory purposes
Certain Individuals: lightweight shipments mailed between adult individuals, limited to 10 per 30-day period
Consumer Testing: limited shipments of cigarettes sent by verified and authorized manufacturers to adult smokers for consumer testing purposes
Public Health: limited shipments by federal agencies for public health purposes under similar rules applied to manufacturers conducting consumer testing.
Azim Chowdhury
The unpublished rules suggest that business-to-business shipments will be allowed. According to Azim Chowdhury, a partner at Keller and Heckman, the PACT Act has historically exempted business-to-business deliveries from the USPS ban. Specifically, the USPS ban does not extend to tobacco products mailed only for business purposes between legally operating businesses that have all applicable state and federal government licenses or permits and are engaged in tobacco product manufacturing, distribution, wholesale, export, import, testing, investigation or research.
“Companies seeking to use USPS for business-to-business deliveries must first submit an application to the USPS Pricing and Classification Service Center and comply with several other shipping, labeling and delivery requirements,” said Chowdhury.
The USPS rules also state that the listed exceptions cannot feasibly be applied to inbound or outbound international mail, mail to or from the Freely Associated States, or mail presented at overseas Army Post Office, Fleet Post Office, or Diplomatic Post Office locations and destined to addresses in the United States. Because of this inability, all ENDS products “in such mail are nonmailable, without exception.”
In addition to the nonmailing provisions, the PACT Act requires anyone who sells cigarettes or smokeless tobacco to register with the Bureau for Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the tobacco tax administrators of the states into which a shipment is made or in which an advertisement or offer is disseminated, according to Chowdhury. Retailers who ship cigarettes or smokeless tobacco to consumers are further required to label packages as containing tobacco, verify the age and identity of the customer at purchase, use a delivery method (other than the USPS) that checks ID and obtains an adult customer signature at delivery, and maintain records of delivery sales for a period of four years after the date of sale, among other things.
Broughton Nicotine Services has appointed Nveed Chaudhary as chief regulatory officer.
This appointment is the latest in a series of high-profile additions to the team at the contract research organization specializing in electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS) as it embarks on its next phase of growth.
Having built a leading reputation for advancing a smoke-free future by helping ENDS companies bring noncombustible products to market, the business is now also moving into modern oral nicotine products, heated-tobacco products and cannabidiol products.
“We are absolutely delighted to have brought Nveed on board,” said Paul Moran, CEO of Broughton Nicotine Services. “He is one of a small number of experts in the industry to have developed scientific and regulatory strategies that have delivered the highly sought-after marketing order for both premarket tobacco product applications (PMTA) and modified-risk tobacco product (MRTP) applications. Nveed’s depth of knowledge and experience will further help Broughton’s clients shape the future of next-generation nicotine products.”
Previously head of harm reduction science at Imperial Brands and director of strategic communications at Philip Morris International, Chaudhary was a core team member of the successful IQOS PMTA and MRTP regulatory submissions and director for the Myblu PMTA submission program. He is a recognized expert in the nicotine sector, author of over 25 peer-reviewed publications and speaker at international lung disease and tobacco harm reduction conferences.
“My career goal has always been to reduce the burden that lung disease has on patients, society and public health,” said Chaudhary. “To combat the harm effects caused by smoking, it’s important to offer consumers high quality, rigorously tested and regulated noncombustible products.
“Broughton Nicotine Services acts as the bridge between the industry and global regulators. By applying experience and knowledge, we partner with manufacturers to help them secure marketing orders for safer next-generation products.
“It’s clear that the business shares my drive to accelerate the creation of a smoke-free future, and I’m excited to be part of the team.”
Luc Hyvernat will be Oettinger Davidoff’s next senior vice president and chief commercial officer effective March 1, reports Halfwheel.
Hyvernat succeeds Jim Young, who left the company last month after nearly a decade with Davidoff. Hyvernat is currently the international director for Centre Vinicole Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte. He has more than 20 years of experience in the tobacco industry, working for Altadis, Imperial Brands and SEITA.
“With his longstanding track record of international leadership roles and extensive experience in the tobacco industry, I am convinced that Luc Hyvernat will make a significant contribution to accelerate the commercial growth of our company,” said Beat Hauenstein, CEO of Oettinger Davidoff. “Together with the regional business leaders, Luc Hyvernat will further enhance our company’s commercial transformation to remain the best-in-class organization for our trade partners and consumers.”
The Philippines’ Bureau of Customs (BOC) has declared an all-out war against cigarette smuggling, reports The Manila Times. Cigarettes top the bureau’s list of most smuggled products.
In 2020, the BOC seized PHP5.77 billion ($119.138 million) worth of illicit cigarettes—more than half of the PHP10.63 billion worth of smuggled goods intercepted by the bureau in 2020. The agency recorded 997 seizures from January 2020 to December 2020. Of the number, 204 seizure cases were for smuggled cigarettes and tobacco products.
Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero tapped the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) to take the lead for the anti-smuggling effort in cooperation with the Enforcement Security Service, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine Coast Guard.
Guerrero’s directive came in the wake of a series of interceptions of more than PHP100 million worth of smuggled cigarettes made by operatives of the Manila Container Port-CIIS during the first two months of the year.
Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Group Raniel Ramiro disclosed that the latest interception comprised 820 master cases of Astro brand cigarettes with a street value of PHP30 million. In January and in early February, the CIIS operatives also seized PHP70 million worth of illegal cigarettes and other goods following a raid in three separate storage facilities in Paco, Manila, Las Pinas City and Pasay City.
Ceylon Tobacco Co. (CTC) has appointed Suresh Kumar Shah as its chairman, reports The Daily Mirror. He succeeds William Francis Pegel, who served as chairman from August 2019.
The succession follows changes to CTC’s board announced on Feb. 1, with the appointment of three new nonexecutive directors—Suresh Kumar Shah, Stuart Kidd and Rumana Rahman—bringing the number of directors on CTC’s board to eight.
Previously, Shah served as chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Employers Federation of Ceylon.
He also served as Commissioner on the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka and was a member of the Monetary Policy Consultative Committee with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and of the Council at the University of Moratuwa.
Currently, British American Tobacco’s (BAT) regional head of finance for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, Kidd joined BAT Australia in 2001. He has held various senior finance roles in New Zealand, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Japan. Prior to his appointment as regional head of finance, he was finance director at BAT Japan from 2015.
Rahman is BAT’s regional head of talent, culture and inclusion for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. She is the first South Asian female and first Bangladeshi to sit on the regional leadership team and is also the first South Asian female leader of the top 120 leaders of BAT.
Prior to moving to Hong Kong, Rahman was the head of human resources for BAT Bangladesh. With more than 18 years of experience, she has an extensive background in human resources and specialist functions. Rahman was recognized as the most inspiring woman leader by Brand Forum in 2016.
In reviewing premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is prioritizing products with the greatest market share where scientific review will have the greatest public health impact, the agency said in a Feb. 16 update on its website.
As of mid-January, the FDA had completed the processing step of applications for more than 4.8 million products from over 230 companies. “We have accepted applications for about 84,000 products and refused to accept applications for about 3,100 products submitted through the PMTA pathway,” wrote Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products. “As of mid-January 2021, of the applications submitted by Sept. 9, we have filed applications for about 29,000 products and refused to file applications for about 1,650 products submitted through the PMTA pathway.
According to Zeller, the agency’s progress has been slowed by the great variety of ways in which applicants submitted their PMTAs. For example, some applicants provided information on one product per submission while other applicants provided information for all of their products within one submission.
The FDA is prioritizing enforcement against electronic nicotine-delivery devices (ENDS) that continue to be sold and for which the agency did not receive a product application. To date, the FDA has sent warning letters to 30 firms selling ENDS products, specifically e-liquids, without premarket authorization.
The agency also stated that the likelihood of the FDA reviewing all the applications by Sept. 9, 2021, is low. Because of the sheer number of applications, the agency has set aside the products with the greatest market share and will push those products through the process more quickly. “[We will] focus resources on products where scientific review will have the greatest public health impact, based on their market share, while also committing to providing an opportunity for review to all companies,” Zeller wrote.
The FDA could not confirm when it would release a list of products that are approved to be on the market. Zeller wrote that the agency continues to work on processing submissions and verifying the dates of initial marketing and current marketing status of products that submitted a timely PMTA.
“We have already verified this information for around 86,000 products received through the PMTA pathway,” he wrote. “Due to the size and volume of the PMTA submissions and the variable quality, format and presentation of these submissions, processing these submissions and verifying this information will take more time.”
KT&G’s Director Candidate Recommendation Committee (DCRC) has recommended Bok-in Baek, the current president of KT&G, as a candidate for the next president of KT&G.
If appointed as the next president in the general meeting of shareholders scheduled to be held in March, Bok-in Baek would be expected to manage KT&G for the next three years.
The DCRC said that it had selected Baek as a candidate after carefully considering his achievements, vision and strategy, among other factors.
The DCRC added that Baek has been highly regarded for his leadership of KT&G. Baek’s tenure at the helm of the company included expansion into more than 100 foreign markets and the conclusion of an export contract for tobacco-type electronic cigarettes with Philip Morris International.
