News overview of the international tobacco market for a week
Multinational
- British American Tobacco plc. Claims that smokers’ switching to Glocan effectively reduce Harmful smoke exposure. According to foreign news reports, according to a study published in the “Nicotine and Tobacco Research”, smokers who switched completely from smoking to using British American Tobacco Glo’s heating non-combustion vaping products have greatly reduced their exposure to harmful gases during the smoking process. The company said this result is another positive step for British American Tobacco plc, which will continue its efforts to provide consumers with a series of pleasant products with lower potential risks and reduce the health adverse effects.
- Imperial Tobacco Group PLChas sold its plant in Trossingen, Germany to a local subsidiary company in the Netherlands, F + C Papiervertriebsgesellschaft mbH. The factory of Imperial Tobacco Group PLC in this region mainly produces filter materials. In the first half of 2020, the Imperial Tobacco Group PLC has been forced to stop production activities in this factory. Some analysts believe that the main reason for the closure of the factory is that its output has dropped significantly after losing its trademark agreement with its partners, and its production capacity has not been fully utilized.
- Philip Morris International Inc. Started to lay off employees in the Australian company. General Manager Tammy Chan gave the reason and said that it would provide reemployment services for employees who are about to leave. According to Yahoo News, this tobacco giant will lay off 100 employees across Australia, and some of the affected employees may be relocated. The company said in a statement that the decision was made after an extensive internal review, emphasizing potential business efficiency. This move will enable the company to centralize or integrate the operations of the entire business.
Marketing News
- According to an article in “Nikkei Asia”, the current cashless payment method of consumption in Japan is helping to break the invisible barriers to raising cigarette prices. For a long time, Japan Tobacco has insisted on never increasing the price of a pack of cigarettes over than500 yen ($4.79), because 500 yen is the coin with the largest value. Naohiro Minami, Chief Financial Officer of Japan Tobacco Inc., said the penetration of cashless transactions has eased price sensitivity.
- According to news from the Financial Tribune, statistics show that Iranian cigarette producers have more than tripled their production in the past five years. At the same time, in 2019 alone, The turnover of the country’s tobacco industry reached $1 billion. Currently, there are 39 tobacco companies and 23 cigarette manufacturing plants in Iran. Five years ago, Iran had only 7 cigarette production plants, and the average number of cigarettes produced per year was 29 billion. At present, its annual cigarette production capacity has reached 55 billion.
- According to the news from the Grocer, in response to the upcoming Brexit, the UK Tax and Customs Department plans to test a new cigarette tracking system to combat counterfeit and smuggled illegal tobacco products. According to reports, the tracking system is only applicable to the domestic tobacco market in the UK. The purpose of using this system is to allow the UK policy to still be able to track illegal tobacco products after the formal Brexit, so as to effectively combat the illegal trade of such products.
Tobacco law
- According to news from VAPOR, the Australian government recently introduced a more stringent bill on the sale of tobacco products, which will prohibit retailers from displaying these tobacco products for sale in stores. In this regard, a person in charge claimed that this will be an effective strategy to reduce the consumption of tobacco products, which can accelerate the reduction of smoking rates and help the government implement its smoke-free society goals. According to data from the Australian government’s health department, there are currently about 2.3 million people in the country who smoke, less than 15% of adults. The government’s goal is to reduce the smoking rate to about 10% by 2025.
- According to the British“Daily Mail” report, from 2021, British seafarers will be banned from smoking on Royal Navy ships. From January next year, all types of tobacco products will be banned, including on ships and submarines. The plan aims to “minimize the negative impact of smoking on combat capability.” The smoking ban will also apply to military sites and may even apply to tourists, civil servants and contractors.
- According to the North Korean Central News Agency, the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea implemented anti-tobacco legislation on November 4, which included a ban on smoking in public areas. According to reports, in addition to banning smoking in political and ideological education centers, theaters and cinemas, and medical and public health facilities, the law will also strengthen legal and social control over cigarette production and sales. World Health Organization (WHO) data show that in 2017, more than 46% of adult males in North Korea smoked, and the actual number may be even higher.
New Tobacco
- According to data from the World Health Organization, in the UAE, which has a population of about 10 million, men account for 28.6% of smokers over the age of 15 and 0.7% of women. The average number of cigarettes smoked by UAE adults is 583 per year, ranking 82th in the world. Heat not burn (HNB), as a new type of tobacco, meets the consumption needs of smokers in the UAE to a certain extent. According to data, the new tobacco market is expected to reach US$485 million by 2024, and the market size will grow at a rate of 9.74% between 2019 and 2024.
- According to Yonhap News Agency, British American Tobacco (BAT) Korea branch recently stated that due to laws and regulations and health concerns about smoking, the proportion of heat-not-burn cigarette products will increase to 50% by 2030. Since 2017, the company has sold the heat-not-burn glo tobacco heating product series based on traditional cigarette products in the Korean market. The company said that British American Tobacco plc Korea branch will increase its efforts to improve customers’ understanding of the “potentially reduced risk of alternative cigarettes” and provide more products through digital channels.