Bangladesh officials are investigating BAT for anti-competitive practices alleged by JTI.
The Bangladesh Competition Commission (BCC) is moving forward with a full probe into Japan Tobacco International’s (JTI) complaint of anti-competitive practices by British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB).
United Dhaka Tobacco Company Ltd (UDTCL), which was acquired by JTI in 2018, filed a complaint with BCC in March last year alleging BATB was abusing its dominant position in the country’s cigarette market, engaging in anti-competitive practices that were detrimental to UDTCL/JTI.
BATB is Bangladesh’s top cigarette seller, followed by JTI and Abul Khai Tobacco. When JTI acquired UDTCL, it had a 19.8% market share. This has since slipped to 12.6% because of BATB’s practices.
Said practices include a program with retailers which penalize retailers who stock or sell UDTCL/JTI products by deducting loyalty points, which would affect the incentives the retailer would receive. Or, BATB would threaten to stop supplying its products to the retailer. UDTCL/JTI said this directly or indirectly prevents competition in the market and stops competitors from gaining more market share. Bangladesh’s cigarette market sells almost 8.4 billion sticks a year.