Tag: India

Prices stall in Karnataka
The Tobacco Board of India has been asked to take the steps necessary to address the poor domestic and overseas demand for the flue-cured tobacco currently being auctioned in the state of Karnataka, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter.
The call was said to have been made by Javare Gowda, president of the VFC Tobacco Growers of Karnataka, though it wasn’t spelt out what sorts of steps should be taken.
At the time the newsletter was issued, growers in Karnataka were said to have sold 40 million kg of flue-cured tobacco for an average price of Rs145 per kg.
The auctions so far had comprised sales of 14 million kg of low-grade leaf at an average price of Rs120 per kg; 18 million kg of medium grades for an average of Rs144 per kg; and [presumably] eight million kg of bright grades for an average of Rs161 per kg.
The auction season started on a high note in September with 2.4 million kg being sold during the first eight days of sales and with the average price going above Rs150 per kg within the first 2-3 weeks.
But since then, demand has fallen off and prices have declined, causing growers to become concerned.
A Board official was quoted as saying that, more than three months after the start of auctions, as much as 50 million kg of tobacco was yet to be sold.
And this is a relatively small crop. The Board had fixed the 2018-19-season volume at 99 million kg, but heavy rains in the region are believed to have reduced the harvest to 90 million kg.
January 17, 2019
Don’t mention ENDS
Suppliers of vaping devices, including electronic cigarettes and heat-not-burn products, are facing growing Government resistance to their efforts to break into the Indian market, according to a story by Anoo Bhuyan published at thewire.in.
At least three ministries are said to have proposed new regulations on the marketing or import of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS).
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has proposed an amendment to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2018 to ban the advertisement of such products.
And the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has issued a circular – referring to an advisory from the Union health ministry – that all import consignments of ENDS must be cleared by the drug controllers of the states in which the products arrive.
The controllers are then obliged to check the compliance of the products against the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Based on those reports, non-compliant consignments can be denied clearance and punitive action can be taken against those in violation of the Act.
But the story says that the most striking curb on ENDS comes from the proposed amendments to the IT Act.
The legislation was enacted in 2000 to boost and regulate e-commerce transactions, to prevent digital crime and – more recently – to curb fake news on social media.
Section three of the proposed rules states that ‘intermediaries’ should ensure they do not publish information on anything that threatens public health or safety. It goes on to mention tobacco products, intoxicants including alcohol and ENDS.
January 10, 2019
India staying on track
A panel of officials from India’s ministries of finance and health are considering how to implement a track-and-trace system for tobacco products, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter.
The plan is that the system, aimed at curbing the illegal trade in tobacco products, will be aligned with the World Health Organization’s Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
The WHO requires that, within five years of becoming signatories to the Protocol, countries must establish a track-and-trace system.
The story said that India was examining a system adopted by countries including Brazil, Kenya and Turkey.
December 27, 2018
Born to smoke
On the first day of her life, a child who is born in Delhi takes in air that is the equivalent of smoking 20-25 cigarettes, according to a story by Abhaya Srivastava for Agence France Presse, quoting Arvind Kumar, a prominent Delhi lung surgeon.
For years, the surgeon has campaigned to raise awareness about the dangers of air pollution, which the World Health Organization last month likened to the tobacco epidemic.
Many of the patients he sees already bear physical scars from breathing a lifetime of Delhi air.
“These are non-smokers, but even they have black lungs,” he was quoted as saying.
“Even teenagers have black spots on their lungs. This is frightening.”
AFP reported that, despite Delhi’s smog reappearing every winter, official efforts to combat it had been ineffectual.
Emergency measures such as banning construction, cutting down on traffic and prohibiting the use of diesel generators had had little effect.
At the same time, longer-term solutions remained elusive. State governments had refused to co-operate on root causes of the crisis, such as farmers using fire to clear their land on the outskirts of Delhi.
But Kumar was quoted as saying that pollution had to be tackled at its source. “Everything else is just eyewash,” he said.
November 7, 2018
It's the smoker's burden
India’s Group of Ministers within the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council are being urged to increase the tax on tobacco products to help shore up the country’s disasters-remediation revenue, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter.
Public health groups, doctors and economists are said to be calling for the imposition of the additional tax on all tobacco products, including bidis, to address ‘the crisis and generate funds for the rehabilitation of the people of Kerala affected by recent floods’.
Currently, the tax on bidis is said to amount to 22 percent, while that on cigarettes is 53 percent and that on smokeless tobacco is 60 percent.
The World Health Organization recommends that tobacco-product excise taxes should be at least 75 percent.
Meanwhile, a panel of state finance ministers set up to consider a disaster tax within the GST to help states hit by natural calamities has decided to seek the response of all states on the matter.
It is probably as well that India is looking into raising funds for mitigating the effects of disasters natural or otherwise. The World Health Organization says that the country has nine of the world’s 10 most-polluted cities, as calculated on PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) levels in the air.
October 29, 2018
E-cig stance challenged
The recent advisory issued by India’s Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to the State government seeking a ban on the sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is based on poor advice and a lack of scientific evidence, according to a story by Bindu Shajan Perappadan at thehindu.com quoting a group representing electronic cigarette users across the country.
The Association of Vapers India (AVI) has hit back at the Center and questioned the motive behind the advisory.
‘ENDS products are being examined across the world for their benefit in harm reduction and as a pathway to smoking cessation,’ the AVI said in a press note. ‘The advisory must be withdrawn immediately…’
Evidence that had been produced during the past two years had shown that a smoker who switched to vaping cut her health risk by more than 95 percent, the AVI said.
And it questioned why the government had not banned tobacco cigarettes if it was so concerned about nicotine.
At the same time, the AVI rubbished the government’s contention that vaping would increase smoking rates among teenagers, citing evidence to the contrary based on a survey of 60,000 teenagers by UK-based Public Health England.
“This claim is bogus as smoking rates among the youth are declining in all countries that have allowed vaping,” said AVI director Samrat Chowdhery. “In fact, overall smoking rates have declined at a historical rate after vaping was introduced. This clearly points to the tremendous harm reduction potential of vaping.”
Meanwhile, Deepak Mukarji of The Alternatives, which advocates harm reduction in respect of people and the planet, said the Alternatives was disappointed with the Central government’s directive on e-cigarettes. This retrograde step denied harm reduction and potentially lifesaving alternatives to smokers by ignoring science and its emerging technologies.
Evidence that the government claimed to have, the AVI said, was either outdated or intentionally misinterpreted; and it was out of line with the view widely accepted by all major scientific institutions that the use of e-cigarettes was substantially less harmful than was smoking combustible cigarettes.
The association blamed the government also for presenting a wrong picture by selectively citing World Health Organization data that 30 countries had banned e-cigarettes, while holding back information that 65 nations had allowed and regulated such products.
September 4, 2018
The upside of a ban
India’s ban on vaping products comes with an upside for the country’s dominant cigarette manufacturer, ITC, according to a story by Kiran Kabtta Somvanshi for the Times of India quoting the ET Intelligence Group.
The story said that the blanket ban on the import, manufacture and sale of electronic cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems had nipped ITC’s plans of entering this sector in the bud.
But, the story added, the ban might be seen as saving the company from the threat of disruptive competition.
In India, the use of e-cigarettes was still in its infancy.
ITC had launched e-cigarettes in 2014 under the brand name Eon. But the company had not committed to making a major investment in the product, probably as it waited for clarity in respect of the introduction of regulations and the reaction of consumers.
Now, the Times said, the ban prevented the entry of products such as Philip Morris’ iQOS device into the Indian market, which had the second-largest number of smokers.
‘Little wonder then that ITC’s stock closed positive despite yet another regulatory measure being introduced to discourage smoking,’ the Times said.
‘It nevertheless remains to be seen how the country’s top tobacco company looks at innovating its conventional cigarettes business besides the strategy of premiumizing its portfolio,’ it said.
ITC was said to have entered the nicotine-replacement product market in 2013 with the launch of the chewing gum Kwiknic. But the company’s latest annual report had no mention of this product; so investors would want to know the company’s Plan B for innovation in its bread-and-butter business.
August 31, 2018
New warnings in India
The Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released new images to be included as graphic health warnings on tobacco products starting September 1.
According to a News18.com story relayed by the TMA, last week, the Supreme Court said that tobacco products would continue to carry graphic warnings covering 85 percent of the packaging space.
The government apparently released two separate set of images, the first of which will be used on tobacco products for 12 months beginning September 1, with the second to be used subsequently.
‘All tobacco products manufactured or imported or packaged on or after 1st September 2018 shall display Image-1 and those manufactured or imported or packaged on or after 1st September 2019 shall display Image-2,’ the ministry said in a statement.
‘Any person engaged directly or indirectly in the production, supply, import or distribution of cigarettes or any tobacco products shall ensure that all tobacco product packages shall have the specified health warnings exactly as prescribed.’
Violation of the provision is a punishable offence with imprisonment or fine as prescribed in Section 20 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003.
August 21, 2018
'Brief' auction 'disruption'
After a ‘brief disruption’ last week, flue-cured tobacco auctions had resumed in Andhra Pradesh, India, according to a story in the Hindu Times relayed by the TMA.
It was not stated how long the brief disruption lasted nor what had cause it.
It could, for instance, have been down to a technical problem, but, earlier in the year, growers, worried at the slow pace of sales, called on the Chief Minister to hold a meeting with traders.
And the disruption could have been about prices, because that has happened before. Overall, prices are said to be two percent above what they were last year, while prices in the West Godavari district are down.
According to Tobacco Board figures, growers have this year sold 85 million kg of flue-cured at an average price of Rs134.66 (US$1.96) per kg.
At the same point of last year’s sales, growers had sold 95 million kg at an average price of Rs132.00 (US$ 1.92) per kg.
According to the Times, high-grade leaf produced in the northern light soils region of West Godavari is currently being sold at an average price of Rs149 per kg (US$ 2.17) compared with Rs151 (US$ 2.20) per kg last year, while low-grade leaf is being sold below Rs80 (US$ 1.17) per kg.
Flue-cured deliveries are expected to reach 127 million kg, lower than the authorized crop size of 136 million kg.
Auctions are expected to end in September.
August 1, 2018
Shifting out of tobacco
About 15 percent of the land previously under tobacco in India has been switched to growing other crops during the past three years, according to a story in the Times of India.
This switch has been brought about as a result of the Government’s crop diversification program (CDP).
The Times reported that tobacco was grown on about 450,000 ha in 15 states – about 0.3 percent of the country’s arable land – and that the agriculture ministry had reported that 67,000 ha had been switched to pulses and vegetables.
The Times, citing the ministry, reported that the switch out of tobacco had occurred in nine states and had been ‘led’ by Andhra Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the states that produce flue-cured tobacco for export. Between them, according to the Times report, they produce just over 70 percent of India’s tobacco.
The ministry said that tobacco was a remunerative crop with a low incidence of pests and disease, and that it was therefore a preferred crop. However, growers had been motivated to make the switch with campaigns highlighting the harmful effects of tobacco and by convincing them of the long-term benefits of alternative crops.
According to the Rajahmundry-based Central Tobacco Research Institute, studies have shown that no single crop is as remunerative as tobacco is. However, it says that a remunerative cropping system rather than a sole crop can be a viable alternative to a sole tobacco crop.
July 27, 2018