News
UK Plan: On-Cigarette Labelling Looms
UK newspapers and website were ablaze with news that a UK legislator plans to unveil a plan in Parliament to print “Smoking Kills” in red on each individual cigarette. Failure to do so of course would lead to fines and/or jail sentences. Read more
Thailand's Increasing Illicit Imports
Thailand’s Excise Department in mid-June presented a parliamentary committee tasked with drafting the 2022 budget bill with the finding that up to 30% of all cigarettes now sold in the country are illegal, constituting mostly smuggled contraband. Read more
US Mfcs: Please Ease Embargo on Cuban Tobacco
J.C. Newman, one of the oldest US cigar manufacturers wants to start using Cuban tobacco in its cigars and petitioned the US government for the rights to do so. Read more
FDA Vape Mandate Over Industry to Continue
The US Supreme Court refused to hear a case brought by a US vape shop in the state of Mississippi. Big Times Vapes argued that the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) was given unconstitutional powers of regulation over the vape business. Read more
Philippines Least Tobacco-Friendly in Asia
Results from the Tobacconomic Cigarette Tax Scorecard, which assesses the cigarette tax policies in over 170 countries, show that the Philippines is the least tobacco-friendly country in Asia as it ranks highest in the region on the scorecard. Read more
Courtesy of Tobacco Association of Malawi
US Modifies Malawi Tobacco Ban
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) modified its withhold release order which banned tobacco imports Malawi. Now tobacco from Premium Tobacco Malawi Ltd. (PTML) are admissible at all US ports of entry. Read more
BAT Wins First Round Against PMI in Patent Fight
British American Tobacco (BAT) won the first round of a legal trade battle with Philip Morris International (PMI) over heat-not-burn technology patents. Read more
US FDA Releases List of New Tobacco Products
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its official list of deemed new tobacco products for which a premarket application was submitted via FDA’s premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) pathway by September 9, 2020. Read more
China Now Biggest Market for Cuban Cigars
Who says cigar imports to China are too difficult? Habanos S.A, Cuba’s state cigar monopoly and the world’s premier cigar maker announced recently that in 2020 – for the first time – China displaced Spain as its top export market. Read more
TPE Las Vegas: First Tobacco Expo Held in a Year
Tobacco Plus Expo (TPE) was held successfully in Las Vegas last week welcoming an expected 5,000 participations over the 3-day event. Read more
PMI’s New C.E.O. on Japan/Philippines
The new chief executive officer of Philip Morris International (PMI) confirmed its pleasure in its local Philippine market and its partner there, and also committed to phasing out conventional cigarettes in the Japan market within 10 years. Read more
International Cigar Expo Announced for China’s “Hometown” of Cigars
On May 10, the global kick-off conference for the 2021 International Cigar Expo (ICE 2021), was held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province to promote the coming expo to be held there on November 8-10, 2021. Read more
Opposition to China’s E-Cig Rules from All Sides
China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has stopped soliciting public opinion on their draft amendment to the tobacco monopoly law which would extend the current... Read more
Billionaire Investor Builds £5bn Stakes in BAT, Imperial
Kenneth Dart, the billionaire investor known for “vulture” trades in government debt, has built stakes worth nearly £5 billion (US$6.9 billion) in British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands. Read more
PMI Eyeing Cannabis Market
Philip Morris International (PMI) is eyeing a possible entry into the cannabis market but has not yet determined its next move. Read more
US FDA Plans to Ban Menthol Flavor
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will propose a policy to ban menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars within a year, but declined to speculate on when the rule would be finalized. Read more
Hong Kong Illicit Cigarettes up 137%
Between January 1-April 15 this year, Hong Kong authorities have seized nearly 133 million illegal cigarettes worth an estimated HK$358 million (US$46 million). This figure is a 137% increase from what was seized in all of 2019. Read more
New Vape Tax, Increased Tobacco Tax in Canada
Canada’s 2021 federal budget revealed the government’s plans to introduce a “new taxation framework” to start imposing excise tax on vaping products in 2022. Read more
New Zealand’s Plan for a Smoke-Free Generation
The government of New Zealand proposes a ban on the sale of tobacco products to those born after 2004 as part of its efforts to become smoke-free by 2025. Read more
US Administration’s Plan to Cut Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Biden administration is considering whether to cap nicotine levels in cigarettes, sending tobacco stocks tumbling. Read more