Articles Q2 09

China is Online Counterfeit Cigarette Trade

By Allen Liao 

As e-commerce on the internet develops both in depth and scope, the number of online cigarette stores in China has kept growing rapidly while the volume of online cigarette transactions continues to incersase. Unfortunately, alongisde this the trade of illegal cigarette products in large quantities on the internet has also increased dramatically, casting a huge shadow over the lawful cigarette trade in the country.

Logging onto the internet and typing a keyword to search for an online cigarette trader, one can discover that there is a website or online cigarette store calling itself "The Best Specialized Wholesale Web Among All Cigarette Selling Networks on the Internet". It sells domestic high-grade cigarettes with a retail price of just one-tenth of the regular, official price.

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More than Just Paper and Ink TANN Philippines is a Multi-Solution Facility

By Heneage Mitchell 

Just around the corner from Philip Morris’ impressive Batangas production facility is another, somewhat smaller, but no less impressively appointed facility serving the tobacco industry.

TANN Philippines decision to place their regional hub in the same industrial park was no doubt influenced in part by gaining an important customer as an immediate neighbor. But it was mostly, as Oliver Carsi-Cruz, the company’s affable general manger, points out, because of the Philippine’s unique geographical, cultural and social benefits.

"Here, we are strategically located to supply North, South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East," said Carsi-Cruz. "Some of our products end up in Africa too. Logistically, the Philippines has an advantage. It’s easy to get things in and out of the country, and we are relatively close to all of our major customers. Add to this a motivated, highly skilled, English-speaking work force and the Philippines is clearly an ideal place to locate a technologically advanced production facility such as TANN’s."

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Born of Fire China is Lighter Manufacturing Industry

Evolution of a Masterpiece

China is Tobacco Industry Faces a Challenging Year

By Allen Liao

Although the Chinese economy was unable to free itself from the impacts of the global financial crisis in 2008, China’s tobacco industry has maintained its status as a key source of tax revenues and profits, with the amount of taxes paid by it in the whole of 2008 accounting for 7.2% of the annual financial revenues for the state.

In its annual report on the work of the tobacco industry for 2009, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA), acknowledging the harsh domestic economic situation, set a target of ensuring a growth rate of 8% while striving to realize 10%. Under the "two leaps forward" strategy (a leap forward from the provincial market to markets in other Chinese regions, and a leap forward from the domestic market to the international market), and the policy of restructuring key enterprises "with greater proficiency" and "at higher levels", Chinese tobacco manufacturers will in 2009 further enlarge their production capacity and strengthen the development of competitive brands, accelerate the process of inter-provincial association and restructuring and strengthen improvement and effectual reform of the structure of existing brands.

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US Leaf Burley A Vanishing Crop?

Pack It Up India’s Wadpack Has Been Leading the Pack For Almost 60 Years

Staff Report

The association between the tobacco industry and the promoters of Wadpack Pvt Ltd. commenced in 1953, with the supply of wooden cases made out of seasoned pine wood for tobacco exports. India’s first timber kiln seasoning plant was set up in 1950 for making seasoned wooden cases of high quality. Prior to this, these boxes were being imported by the tobacco industry in India. This was one of the first such import substitutions in the packaging field.

In 1964 Wadpack moved away from wooden packaging to the new, environmentally-friendly corrugated fiber board cartons.

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Fierce Competition in China is

Tax Hike Proposal in Japan Fizzles Out

By Albert Chan

Calls for tax increases on cigarettes in Japan were nothing new. Health advocates have made numerous attempts in the past. Lawmakers and others have also voiced support for fiscal reasons. The most recent effort to raise tax and make smoking more expensive in Japan came up around the middle of last year and debate on the subject went on throughout much of the second half of the year as the global financial tsunami took a nasty turn with the fall of Lehman Brothers. The tax hike proposal looked very attractive and it would not have been surprising if it had pushed through since the arguments for the raise were based more on fiscal than health grounds. It was also the time when the Japanese government was facing an unprecedented and prolonged recession with a social security bill running into hundreds of billions of yen.

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