BAT’s former Russian subsidiary in St. Petersburg has been renamed ITMS following the change in ownership, reports AB News.
Last year, BAT announced problems with its Russian business and its intention to leave the Russian market following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian and Belarusian businesses of BAT were acquired by a consortium led by BAT Russia’s management team.
BAT took a big hit from the sale of its Russian and Belarussian assets, according to CEO Tadeu Marroco, reports Reuters.
During a Dec. 6 trading update, Marroco said that the proceeds received by BAT represent only a fraction of the Russian and Belarussian businesses’ true value
In September, BAT sold the assets to a consortium led by its Russian local management team, ending an 18-month long process to exit the world’s fourth-largest cigarette market following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
At the time, BAT did not disclose the sale price or whether the deal included a clause allowing the company to buy back the businesses at a later date.
Marroco noted that the company was unlikely to exercise the sales contract’s buyback option because Russian authorities restricted this to two years.
The company had already recognized £629 million pounds ($792.35 million) in impairments and associated costs related to the sale by the time the deal was announced
By Vladislav Vorotnikov
A meteoric rise in the popularity of vapes in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan is pushing the governments to act. Severe measures up to a complete ban are on the table in many markets, but the looming risks of black market expansion prevent the authorities from hustling moves.
As of March 1, 2024, selling flavored vapes will be illegal in Russia, according to a draft government decree.
Among the additives due to be banned are vanilla, spices, ginger, cinnamon and sweeteners along with caffeine, guarana and taurine, which increase energy and mental and physical performance.
No matter whether the measure will come into force, the end of the anti-vape campaign in Russia is nowhere in sight. In October 2023, a bill altogether banning selling vapes in the country was tabled in the Russian Parliament.
The bill was originally prepared two years ago and has recently been resubmitted by lawmakers, Yaroslav Nilov, a member of State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament, stated.
“We realize that the ban means certain lost revenues, but the health of citizens is more important, so we will strive to make the ban real,” Nilov commented.
Restrictive measures against selling vapes are easily being circumvented by unscrupulous sellers in Russia, the lawmakers said in an explanatory note to the bill, referring to the law prohibiting selling vapes and e-cigarettes to customers below 18 years, which came into force earlier in 2023.
In addition, the Russian government now struggles to ban selling vapes through the internet. In November 2023, it was disclosed that a Russian regulator seeks to close 250 online stores selling such products. These efforts have gained little traction so far.
Russian authorities are not alone in the CIS region in their vaping crackdown. In July 2023, the idea of banning all forms of e-cigarettes was put forward by the Youth Parliament of Belarus, a public organization designed to raise future lawmakers.
In July 2023, a Kazakhstan government commission hammered out a recommendation to prohibit selling e-cigarettes, liquids and vape flavors, though no concrete timeframe for the measure to come into force has been disclosed yet.
Again, potential harm to the health of the citizens has been cited as the primary rationale behind the initiative.
“The harm of vaping is undeniable,” Nurgul Tau, deputy of the Kazakh Majilis, the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament, said, emphasizing that the Health Ministry had been advocating the prohibition on selling vapes since 2021.
Ukraine is the only country in the CIS region where a ban on selling vapes and e-cigarettes has already been put into place.
The idea of banning vapes has been brewing in the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, the national Parliament, for the past few years. Retailers and tobacco companies urged the authorities to consider alternative options, including partial restrictions, but the legislators appeared to be adamant about banning vapes.
Public discussions about banning vapes in the post-Soviet area have been spurred by a skyrocketing rise in sales in the past few years.
In 2022, the Russian market of single-use vapes has nearly tripled, NielsenIQ, an international consultancy, estimated without providing concrete figures. Companies operating in this segment saw their revenues rise by about 350 percent.
Between 2018 and 2021, the Russian vaping market expanded by a factor of 50, estimated an alliance of participants of the electronic nicotine-delivery systems market. Last year, the sales were nearly RUR250 billion ($2.5 billion).
The scale of the market boom can be seen with the naked eye. While in 2021, only 7 percent of tobacco stores sold vapes, by May of 2022, this figure reached 35 percent, NielsenIQ said. Another study indicated that at the beginning of 2023, the number of stores selling vapes in Russia was equal to that of conventional tobacco products.
The picture is similar on the neighboring markets. Since 2020, sales of vapes in Kazakhstan jumped by a factor of 300 times, the Kazakh finance ministry estimated.
In Ukraine, the state budget collected UAH2 billion ($55.6 million) from the companies selling vapes, calculated Yuri Suptel, head of the Ukrainian Vaping Association. In 2023, this figure was projected to reach UAH5 billion, but the actual figure will be much lower due to the ban that came into force in July.
Over the past few years, nearly 1 million Ukrainian smokers “migrated” to vapes, so the restrictions will be quite painful for a large number of customers, Suptel estimated.
Ukrainian retailers have largely ignored the government ban on vapes imposed in July, local press reported, showing numerous pictures of tobacco stores selling vapes after the restrictions were enacted.
Since August 2023, the black market of vapes has been flourishing in Ukraine, Suptel said, estimating that smugglers illegally delivering vapes to Ukraine from neighboring countries earn around UAH500 million per month.
“In the shadow market, it is impossible to ensure compliance with the laws that regulate the sales of cigarettes, electronic devices and other tobacco products. For example, the access of minors to nicotine products is not limited. The National Police of Ukraine must fight this phenomenon. But unfortunately, they simply do not have enough resources,” Suptel admitted.
“We hope that the government and members of the parliament will think about the absurdity of the ban and make the right decision,” Suptel added.
The risk that the ban will push the entire vape market underground is believed to be one of the key reasons why Kazakhstan is not rushing to implement the restrictions.
“I’m sure that our deputies, due to their naivety or bias, will ban vapes eventually. In a year or two, we will come to the point where this ban will have to be lifted,” commented Dmitry Zhukov, executive director of the QazSpirits Ale, a local vaping company.
It is one thing to ban a product that is difficult to import into the country and challenging to make and entirely another to ban vapes, which “any schoolchild can assemble on his knee,” Zhukov said.
Currently, Kazakhstan companies selling vapes have no plans to curtail their activities, even if the ban gets a green light. They explained that the demand on the market is not likely to be affected. On the other hand, when the entire market moves underground, there will no longer be a need to pay excise fees, according to Zhukov.
Russia would lose RUR38 billion per year in tax revenue from a ban on vapes while the black market is going to flourish, reaching RUR500 billion to RUR600 billion in annual sales, calculated Dmitry Vladimirov, head of the Union of Enterprises of the Industry of Nicotine-Containing Products.
“Significant losses of the Russian budget in such a difficult geopolitical situation, the growth of the black market, and the rising number of deaths due to the use of counterfeit products are just the tip of the iceberg [Russia will face],” Vladimirov stated.
In the countries that opted to ban e-cigarettes, their illegal sales skyrocketed by a factor of 200 to 300, Vladimirov estimated.
Russia analysts also pointed out that the black market of vapes will find itself on fertile ground as illegal sales of conventional tobacco products still exist in the country, especially in the provinces remote from Moscow. This business is doing well and even growing despite the government’s efforts to take it down, and there are reasons to believe that the ban will only buttress it.
While all countries in the region are primarily importing vapes, there are signs that local production is also on the rise.
“The industry could develop under the balanced control of the state; some operators, for example, planned to start producing such products on the territory of Ukraine, contribute to the economy through exports, help GDP growth [and] create jobs,” Suptel said.
However, even if the ban is removed now, it will take time for the market players to reconsider their plans, owing to high uncertainty about the legal status of this business, according to him.
Some capacities for producing e-cigarettes are being established in Russia, though the lion’s share of the sold products still comes from China.
One local publication wrote about an entrepreneur who managed to earn RUR90 million in one year, investing a relatively small amount of money into the production of vapes. On the other hand, most vape manufacturers prefer to keep a low profile. One possible reason is that some plan to continue operations when the ban is enforced.
Traffickers of illegal vape liquids could face up to seven years in prison in Russia if a proposal by the Committee of the Federation Council on Economic Policy becomes law, reports AIF.
Lawmakers are concerned about the ingredients in illegal vapes, which evade regulatory scrutiny.
Anatoly Vyborny, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, supported the provision, saying that the measure would help protect the health of young Russians.
Currently, in Russia, there is no criminal liability for the illegal import of vaporizers and e-liquids.
BFI Holding of the United Arab Emirates has purchased the St. Petersburg asset of BAT, reports Kommersant, citing data from Russia’s Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
According to the Abu Dhabi Global Market registry, one of BFI Holding’s owners is Faruk Ener, who previously was responsible for Russia, Turkiye, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Belarus at BAT.
BAT started operating in Russia in 1991. Three years later, the company began producing its own tobacco products in St. Petersburg. After the start of hostilities in Ukraine in May 2022, BAT announced the suspension of investments in Russia and later transferred the business in Russia and Belarus to a consortium led by the Russian
By Stefanie Rossel
Demand for reconstituted tobacco leaf (RTL), also known as homogenized tobacco, has held up remarkably well in recent years. In 2021, amid the Covid pandemic, the global RTL business grew by $8 million, according to Russian Tobacco Factory (RTF). And despite the political and economic upheaval in the wake of the Ukraine war, the upward trend continues, prompting some RTL companies to expand their production capacity.
Pioneered in the 1930s, recon tobacco fits well with the current zeitgeist, with its focus on sustainability. Initially, RTL was developed to allow tobacco companies to use the leftovers from cigarette production that were previously discarded. The process saved the valuable raw materials, such as tobacco dust, scraps and stems, and reintegrated them into manufacturing process. Today, homogenized tobacco has a variety of applications. In addition to a cost-saving filler material, it is an essential ingredient in cigarette blend design that enables cigarette manufacturers to lower the nicotine content of their products.
There are several methods to manufacture RTL. Next to the papermaking method invented by Schweitzer-Mauduit International, there is the nano fiber technology developed by Recon Inc. and employed by Star Agritech International (SAI) and a process called band cast, which is also known as slurry-type recon.
A fourth method is the pressing technology, for which patents began to appear in the 1960s. RTF has perfected a variety of this technology known as the roller-rolling method. Using high pressure, the process creates a tobacco sheet with such tensile strength and elasticity that it can be processed in the same way as tobacco leaf. According to RTF, the sheet will retain its shape when passing through all stages of the primary, including the drying conditioning cylinder.
According to RTF CEO Danil Bekmamatov, the process is the result of extensive laboratory work along with trial and error. “The technology has been honed for three years,” he says. “At the beginning, we used only short stems and scrap as raw materials; now, we have developed the practice of processing sections of tobacco veins from a cigarette machine in the amount of 100 percent of the used tobacco material. We have also learned how to introduce up to 5 percent of tobacco dust from the aspiration systems of the cigarette shop without losing RTL quality.”
The strength of RTF’s approach lies in the simplicity of the concept. “Our technology avoids the costly process of producing nano-fiber cellulose,” says Bekmamatov. “Our product contains 90 percent tobacco and the minimal amount of adhesives necessary. Our proprietary method involves multi-stage rolling with the proper roller friction. We enhance the strength properties of recon tobacco through mechanical action alone, minimizing the use of chemicals.”
The process also consumes less water than competing technologies, an increasingly important factor as tobacco companies seek to lower the ecological footprint of their products. Skipping the nano-fiber cellulose production step allows users to save energy, leading to a more affordable recon product. “Only by reducing the amount of water to the required production minimum—in our case, up to 40 percent—is it possible to obtain an environmentally friendly technology with low production costs,” says Bekmamatov.
Reducing the carbon footprint was not the primary objective when RTF set out to develop its recon technology. According to Bekmamatov, it was just a positive consequence of the simplicity of the process and recipe. “For our recon production, less water is used than for the floor polisher that serves this line,” he says. “It is the simplicity of the technology and the recipe—all the components of which you have repeatedly seen in the patents of other researchers—that is a key factor in the spread of technology. Due to reverse engineering, the technology is easily repeatable. Therefore, we are interested in creating joint ventures anywhere in the world on an equal partnership basis—and not in selling ready-made production lines. In this regard, two negotiating processes are currently carried on—one is inside Russia, and the other one is outside of it.”
Based in Samara, about 1,100 km southeast of Moscow, RTF was established in 2017. In addition to recon, it sells cut-rolled stems and cut-rag tobacco. The company inaugurated Russia’s first RTL production line in 2019. A second line is set to become operational at the end of 2023. RTF caters to customers worldwide.
“Both for the client and for us, only the economy at the stage of logistics is important,” says Bekmamatov. “Logistic costs also become decisive in the issue of processing tobacco byproducts of the primary and secondary process on a give-and-take basis. For example, a number of contracts with neighboring CIS enterprises make it possible to process third-party tobacco waste with low road transport costs. On the other hand, the supply of secondary process tobacco material in sea containers from the UAE turned out to be unviable. I do not want to say that sea transport is expensive and makes it unprofitable to process waste from other countries. I just want to convey the idea that each direction needs to be calculated, and that we are ready to do this work with a great deal of responsibility. We do not exclude the possibility of building new RTL plants in other countries to reduce the cost of RTL for the end customer.”
According to Bekmamatov, Russia has been importing increasing volumes of cigar tobacco and inexpensive machine-made cigars containing recon—yet there is virtually no import of RTL bobbins for cigar machines. “There is only one conclusion that can be drawn: there is a great interest in inexpensive cigars on the part of the consumer despite the hypocritical dispute in the cigar community about the quality of machine-rolled products using recon and the unwillingness of the tobacco business to invest in this area, mastering new technologies, processes, purchasing new equipment,” says Bekmamatov.
Meanwhile, Russia has been producing and importing increasing volumes of cigarillos. “I can only assume that this is due to the excise policy when premium cigarettes are almost equal in price to more prestigious cigarillos and also due to a low entry threshold for secondary manufacturers, who have enough existing equipment to launch a new product line based on papermaking recon wrapper cigarillos,” he says. “Moreover, among smokers, there are no loud discussions about the ‘insufficient naturalness’ of such tobacco products.”
Like other Russian companies, RTF has been impacted by the Western sanctions following the Ukraine war. Among other things, the restrictions have forced the company’s engineering department to source components such as electronics, gears and belts from Russian and Chinese suppliers rather than Western ones. In addition, the sanctions have made it difficult to source tobacco from traditional suppliers and conduct foreign exchange transactions. It has also driven up the price of logistics.
Yet RTF proved resourceful and solved the problems as they arose. “We were the first in the Russian Federation to build new routes for the supply of raw materials, which are now used by other companies,” says Bekmamatov. “And we solved banking problems by opening new companies outside the Russian Federation.”
Expansion is also on the agenda of SAI, an international supplier of unmanufactured tobacco and tobacco derivatives based in Istanbul. Since 2018, SAI has been operating a nano fiber recon factory in Brazil. In early 2019, it opened a slurry-process recon plant in Bondowoso, Indonesia. “Recon demand has not changed as far as the usual players go,” says SAI President and CEO Iqbal Lambat. “Our factories in Brazil and Indonesia are running at full capacity, and we have added a second line in Bondowoso to double capacity.”
SAI’s recon production capacity exceeds 6,000 tons annually, making it a top 3 global supplier alongside SWM’s LTR Industries and KT&G’s Tae-A Industrial Co. affiliate, according to Lambat. “Demand for recon continues to increase as small[-sized] and medium-sized cigarette manufacturers understand the benefits of incorporating recon in their blends,” he says. “Recon is half the price of cheap tobacco in the current tobacco undersupply situation. Recon is becoming a worldwide phenomenon as small[-sized] and medium-sized companies come on board with better understanding of the benefits.”
To cater to increasing demand, Start aims to complete a second nano fiber plant with an annual capacity of 6,000 tons by early 2026 in Brazil. “This will ease the pressure on our current Brazilian factory,” says Lambat. “We are also planning a nano fiber plant in Tunisia and in Uganda. Both plants are slated to be operational in early 2025 as well. The Tunisian plant is relatively advanced and could come on stream in the Free Zone of Bizerte in 2024.”
To Lambat, nano fiber is the recon gold standard in terms of sensory impact, as it has half of the stem content as other RTLs, the highest filling power of all RTLs and excellent combustibility. In addition, nano fiber is a sustainable solution. “Nano fiber remains the most eco-friendly RTL production process within the industry,” he says. “As an example, production of 1,000 kg of nano fiber requires less than 50 liters of water. By comparison, the papermaking process requires three liters of water per kilogram of recon produced. So, for 1,000 tons of papermaking recon, 3,000 liters of water will be used and turned into brown water, which then needs industrial scrubbing to be able to release the water into existing effluent systems. So, by comparison, a ton of nano fiber produced uses 50 liters of water versus papermaking at 3,000 liters. So, I’d say, nano fiber is already ahead of the game.”
Nano fiber technology does not work well for the kretek cigarettes that dominate the Indonesian cigarette market, however. “Because kretek has as much as 30 percent cloves, it is necessary to use an alternative binding method, and slurry-type production is better suited,” says Lambat.
The company broke new ground when it opened its recon plant in Java four years ago to turn the waste from clove cigarettes production into kretek recon. “In the startup early experience, Indonesian cigarette manufacturers expected the kretek recon to ‘crackle and spark’ as normal cloves do when lit up,” recalls Lambat. “Of course, kretek recon cannot do that, and now, some four years later, our product has achieved broad product acceptance in Indonesia, and we have more demand than capacity—hence the addition of a second line to double capacity in Indonesia, which is already being commissioned for startup by the end of 2023.”
SAI has more ideas for specialized RTL products in the pipeline. One is the development of a shisha-type recon offering similar chemical characteristics as original shisha tobacco. “Absorption is in the high five to six ratio limits,” says Lambat. “The product was developed with nano fiber recon from the Star Brazil factory in conjunction with a leading tobacco flavor company in Germany. Prototype products have received broad product acceptance across major markets of the Middle East. As shisha tobacco is in short supply globally, this innovation will alleviate demand.”
The other novel product is a 100 percent recon manufactured with oriental tobacco from Turkiye, Greece and Macedonia. “Given the current high—and increasing—price of oriental tobacco, this will prove to be a welcome substitute at literally half the price for classical oriental tobacco,” says Lambat.
Russia has introduced flexible export duties on tobacco products, alcohol products, live animals, fish, dairy products, vegetables, fruits and many other goods, reports Tass.
The temporary measure is set at 4 percent to 7 percent at an exchange rate above RUB80 ($0.83) per dollar. At RUB80 per dollar and below, the duty will be zero.
The measure is aimed at protecting the domestic market, and there are exceptions for some items.
BAT has completed the sale of its Russian and Belarusian businesses, the company announced its website. According to the multinational, the sale has been carried out in compliance with local and international laws and follows the receipt of all necessary approvals.
“BAT Group announced conclusion of an agreement on sale of business in Russia and Belarus today. All trademarks being used now will remain in the ownership of the Russian business. Consequently, consumers will continue receiving high-quality products they are used to under familiar brands,” the press service of the company’s Russian office said.
“Throughout the transfer process, same as after it, among the new owner’s key priorities are uninterrupted business processes, ensured employment of the staff and the implementation of the investment plan approved by the governmental subcommittee,” the company noted.
BAT has formally entered into an agreement to sell its Russian and Belarusian businesses.
The buyer is a consortium led by members of BAT Russia’s management team, which, upon completion, will wholly own both businesses. Post completion, these businesses will be known as the ITMS Group.
“Throughout the transfer process, one of BAT’s key priorities has been the interests of its colleagues in Russia and Belarus,” BAT wrote in a statement. “As part of the agreement, their employment terms will remain comparable to their existing BAT terms for at least two years post-completion.”
BAT anticipates that the transaction will complete within the next month once certain conditions have been satisfied. Upon completion, BAT will no longer have a presence in Russia or Belarus and will receive no financial gain from ongoing sales in these markets.
BAT remains confident of delivering its full-year guidance as set out at its half-year results on July 26, 2023.
BAT’s operations in Russia include a head office in Moscow, 75 regional offices and a manufacturing facility in St. Petersburg. BAT also has an office in Belarus.
On June 30, 2023, on a constant currency basis, Russia and Belarus accounted for approximately 2.7 percent of group revenue and approximately 2.5 percent of group adjusted profit from operations.
BAT’s decision to sell its Russian business is a response to Moscow’s military invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian government lost more than RUB46 billion ($481.33 million) in tax earnings in the first half of 2023 as a result of the illicit trade in cigarettes, reports Interfax.
“According to the latest study, which ended this month, the share of illicit cigarette trafficking was 13.3 percent in terms of smokers,” said Vladislav Zaslavsky, director of the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry’s department for the system of digital marking of goods and the legalization of the circulation of products.
“The minimum amount of losses, according to the NNCC [National Scientific Center for Combating Illicit Trafficking in Industrial Products], is estimated at RUB46.5 billion,” Zaslavsky said on Aug. 24 during a retail round table in the Volga region.
According to Zaslavsky, each percent of the share of illicit cigarette trafficking costs the federal budget about RUB7 billion in excise taxes alone.
The NNCC will conduct a study on “nicotine-containing products” in the second half of 2023. As of the end of 2022, the market share of illegal nicotine-containing products was 79 percent, including 93 percent in illegally sold nicotine-containing liquids.