Tag: Hong Kong

Hong Kong to Lift Ban on Vape Shipments

The government of Hong Kong has decided to reverse its ban on the transshipment of vapor products, reports Loadstar.
Media reports claim the banned cargo amounts to about 330,000 tons a year—the equivalent of some 10 percent of Hong Kong’s annual export volumes by air, according to the Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics.
The value of the re-export cargo affected by the ban was estimated to exceed CNY120 billion ($17.33 billion).
While some transshipment by air had continued to be permitted, beginning in April of last year, vapes entering Hong Kong by land or sea for onward transport by air were banned. However, with the bulk of these products made in neighboring Dongguan, exporters were keen to ship them via land to Hong Kong International Airport.
Once the proposal is passed, the goods will be able to enter Hong Kong through a secure channel on dedicated barges and be delivered straight to the airport.
“The scheme is only to facilitate direct transshipment through Hong Kong, and the goods will not be available for domestic consumption. The proposal is in response to the demand of the Hong Kong air freight industry,” said Willy Lin, chairman of the Hong Kong Shippers Council.
“We hope we could get back some flights lost to competitor airports due to [the] stoppage of shipments of e-cigarettes and related substances through Hong Kong.”
March 23, 2023
Hong Kong: Record Cigarette Seizures

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Hong Kong customs seized 730 million illicit cigarettes in 2022, 76 percent more than in 2021 and the highest annual figure in more than two decades, reports The Standard.
Officers processed 7,148 cases last year, including 3,436 involving cigarette smuggling and 931 involving drug trafficking.
The illicit cigarettes confiscated in 2022 had a market value of HKD2.01 billion ($256.07 million) and a taxable value of around HKD1.4 billion, according to Customs and Excise Commissioner Louise Ho Pui-shan.
Customs officials attributed the spike in illicit cigarettes to the rising tobacco price under inflation.
The increased seizures follow a relaxation of immigration measures in multiple countries after the Covid-19 pandemic, Ho added, noting Customs would recruit 90 inspectors and 170 officers to strengthen the city’s enforcement capability.
March 1, 2023
Hong Kong Hikes Cigarette Prices

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The average price of a pack of cigarettes in Hong Kong increased to HKD73.75 ($9.40) on Feb. 22, following a 31 percent tax hike, reports the South China Morning Post.
With the increase, the city government aims to boost its coffers and cut the number of smokers by 100,000 in the next three years.
“Increasing tobacco duty is recognized internationally as the most effective means to reduce tobacco use,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in his budget speech. “A rise in cigarette price will increase the incentive of smokers to reduce or quit smoking.”
The government estimates the price increase would bring in an extra HKD1 billion a year in revenue.
The prevalence of smoking in Hong Kong has dropped from 23.3 percent of the population in 1982 to 9.5 percent at present. With the new measure, authorities hope to bring the figure down to 7.8 percent by 2025, or reduce the number of smokers from about 580,000 to 480,000.
Tobacco taxes now account for 68 percent of the pack price. This is higher than the 62 percent prior to the tax hike but still lower than the 75 percent rate recommended by the World Health Organization.
By comparison, tax makes up 67.1 percent of the price of a pack of cigarettes in Singapore, 73.9 percent in Australia and 82 percent in New Zealand, according to figures from 2020.
A government representative said that an increase in tobacco tax had led to more inquiries to the Department of Health’s smoking cessation hotline in the past. After the tobacco tax was raised by 50 percent in 2009, calls to the hotline rose by 257 percent.
February 23, 2023
Hong Kong Confiscates $24 Million in Illicit Cigarettes

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Hong Kong customs officers confiscated HKD190 million ($24.25 million) worth of black market cigarettes in the second-largest smuggling bust in two decades, reports the South China Morning Post.
Hidden in seven cargo containers, the shipment of 69 million cigarettes was destined for Britain and Japan, according to Leung Chun-man, acting assistant superintendent of the customs’ revenue crimes investigation bureau.
One of the containers was packed with L&B and Benson & Hedges cigarettes with U.K. health warnings while another container was filled with Japan Tobacco’s Seven Stars brand cigarettes.
“It is the second-biggest seizure of illegal tobacco products discovered since our records began in 2002,” Leung said. The largest seizure took place in July 2022, when authorities confiscated HKD222 million worth of contraband.
If the contraband had been legally imported, Leung said, it would have generated HKD130 million in tax revenue.
Figures from the Customs and Excise Department show the agency confiscated 732 million black market cigarettes worth HKD1.23 billion last year—the biggest annual haul since records began two decades ago.
As Hong Kong eased its coronavirus restrictions last month, illegal tobacco dealers increased their activities.
In Hong Kong, a pack of 20 cigarettes sells for HKD50 to HKD60 whereas illegal ones can go for HKD15.
January 20, 2023
Hong Kong May Resume ENDS Shipments

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The Hong Kong government wants to resume shipment of alternative smoking products through the city to boost the air cargo industry, reports the South China Morning Post. Domestic sales would remain illegal under the proposal.
The city currently prohibits imports and transshipment of electronic nicotine-delivery devices, many of which are manufactured in neighboring Shenzhen.
“The government hopes to ensure the policy on the importation ban on alternative smoking products will be preserved while maintaining Hong Kong’s position as a leading international aviation and logistics hub,” said Pamela Lam Nga-man, deputy secretary for transport and logistics.
Hong Kong International Airport handled 5 million tons of cargo in 2021, which is about 42 percent of the city’s overseas trade worth about HKD4.34 trillion ($556 billion). Air cargo volumes fell 18 percent on average from May to October of 2022 compared with the same period last year. Some of this decline was attributed to loss of transshipment of alternative smoking products from mainland China; most of the materials were transported through Hong Kong.
Under the government’s proposal, products that arrive by sea for air shipment would use a mainland logistics park set up under a pilot transshipment scheme between the city’s airport and the mainland city of Dongguan. A scheme for secure road transport from the mainland would be set up, documents would have to accompany shipments to prevent them leaking into the black market, and products would have to be directly transferred by designated routing in Hong Kong. Goods would be delivered to restricted areas of the airport and held until flown out. Provision of advance cargo information, application of designated seal or e-lock on containers and GPS tracking of cargo would also be used.
November 29, 2022
Hong Kong Confiscates Black Market Cigarettes

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Hong Kong customs officers arrested three men and confiscated HKD180 million ($23 million) in black market cigarettes, reports the South China Morning Post. This marks the second-largest smuggling bust of its kind this year.
Three container trucks at two shipping yards near Tsing Yi Road, Tsing Yi, and Container Port Road South in Kwai Chung carrying three 40-foot cargo containers with 31 million suspected illegal cigarettes were seized. Three more containers in the same yards were seized, holding 33 million sticks of tobacco.
If the illegal cigarettes were legally imported, the products would have generated HKD120 million in tax revenue.
Customs has seized 640 million suspected black market cigarettes this year, an almost 50 percent increase from last year’s 427 million, according to the South China Morning Post.
Many of the brands seized were popular overseas but uncommon locally. “Following the relaxation of anti-pandemic measures and the increase in the flow of people, the market demand for illicit cigarettes has increased,” Senior Investigator Lam Wai-kit said.
An investigation is ongoing to trace the source and flow of the illegal products, according to Lam.
November 22, 2022
Hong Kong Poised to Hike Cigarette Taxes

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Hong Kong authorities are likely to announce a steep rise in the price of cigarettes next year, reports The Standard.
In an attempt to cut smoking prevalence to 7.8 percent by 2025 from 10.2 percent today, the special administrative region wants to increase the price of a pack of cigarettes to HKD100 ($12.82) from HKD59, Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health chairman Henry Tong Sau-chai said.
Raising the tobacco tax is the most effective way to achieve the goal, according to Tong, who noted that the tax rate has not been adjusted substantially over the decade.
The council is also proposing a “tobacco endgame,” a strategy that would include a ban on cigarette sales to people born after 2009.
Last year, a similar measure was adopted by New Zealand to create a smoke-free generation by prohibiting people born in or after 2009 from ever buying cigarettes.
Tong said the year 2009 was chosen because people born that year would turn 18 in 2027—the last year of the current government’s term.
Critics have warned that the council’s proposals will encourage smokers to buy their cigarettes on the black market. The government, they said, should instead work on combating illicit cigarettes and adopt a rational tobacco tax strategy.
November 21, 2022
Health Minister Open to Generational Ban

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Hong Kong Health Minister Lo Chung-mau confirmed that banning tobacco sales for future generations will be on the table as a tool to further reduce youth smoking, according to the South China Morning Post.
Earlier news reports suggested authorities were considering a lifetime ban on anyone born in or after 2009 buying smoking products.
With a smoking prevalence of 9.5 percent in 2021, Hong Kong already has one of the world’s lowest smoking rates, but health authorities are keen to bring it down further still.
Lo said the government would look at the experience of other places in stopping young people from taking up the habit and move toward a “smoke-free Hong Kong.” New Zealand plans to phase out smoking through a generational tobacco ban, and Malaysia is pondering similar measures.
Henry Tong Sau-chai, chairman of Hong Kong’s Council on Smoking and Health also suggested doubling the tobacco tax to encourage users to quit. This would mean a pack of cigarettes currently priced at HKD60 would rise to around HKD100.
Lo on Tuesday also said the government had also been pushing toward raising the tobacco tax and tightening regulations on tobacco product advertisements.
Stepping up tobacco control was stipulated in Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s maiden policy address last month. He set a target to further reduce the smoking rate to 7.8 percent by 2025, and a public consultation will be launched next year on its steps.
Last year, the legislature also passed amendments to prohibit the import, promotion, manufacture, sale or the possession of alternative smoking products, including e-cigarettes, herbal cigarettes or heated-tobacco products.
November 10, 2022
Hong Kong Mulls Age-Related Tobacco Ban

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Hong Kong residents who were born in 2009 or later should be banned from buying cigarettes by 2027, the Council on Smoking and Health proposed on Nov. 3, reports the South China Morning Post.
The city’s smoking population dropped to 9.5 percent last year—hitting single digits for the first time since tracking began—but Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has pledged to lower the rate to 7.8 percent in three years.
Other measures proposed include doubling the current tobacco tax by 2023–2024, which means a pack of cigarettes currently priced at HKD60 ($7.64) would rise to around HKD100. The council said the tax should be further raised in the following two years, so a pack of cigarettes would cost HKD200 by 2025–2026.
The council also recommended expanding the city’s nonsmoking areas to cover taxi and bus stands as well as spaces that fall within 10 meters of hospitals, schools and community facilities.
Hong Kong currently does not allow smoking on public transport, including its interchanges, in hospitals, schools, parks and indoor areas of restaurants, bars and malls.
Some lawmakers expressed concern about the proposed measures. Representing the wholesale and retail sectors, Shiu Ka-fai said poorer smokers would not be able to afford the product following the proposed tax increases.
He also opposed the idea of a “smoke-free generation” as the policy would limit freedom of choice.
The Long-term Tobacco Policy Concern Group, which represents smokers, opposed the tax hike, saying that consumers might buy illicit cigarettes instead of quitting and that the measure would impact the city’s economic recovery.
Council Chairman Henry Tong Sau-chai also opposed a proposal to reverse Hong Kong’s ban on the re-export smoking alternatives as a means to boost the economy.
In April, Hong Kong prohibited the import, sale or manufacture of smoking alternatives, such as e-cigarettes, heated-tobacco products and herbal cigarettes.
The legislation also prohibits smoking products from being transshipped through Hong Kong when brought in by truck or ship for transport onward overseas, although air transshipment cargo and transit cargo that stay on a plane or ship are exempt.
Tong worried that the reverse would create a “loophole” where alternative tobacco products would slip to the community.
November 6, 2022
Hong Kong May Reverse Vapes Re-Export Ban

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Hong Kong may reverse its ban on the re-export of e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products, reports the South China Morning Post, citing unnamed sources.
In April, the city prohibited the sale, manufacture and trade in alternative smoking products.
Authorities are now reportedly considering amending the law, with an eye on the billions of dollars that trade generates annually.
Hong Kong is close to Shenzhen, the world’s largest manufacturing hub for vapor devices.
October 18, 2022