Entries Tagged 'Current Issues' ↓

Please join me in welcoming Fuente as our latest blogger to join us. We all thank you for your interest in Tobacco Today and for your participation.

Don’t forget anybody is welcome to become a blogger. You can still be a reader but individuals who would like to comment and participate on issues affecting our industry today can do so whenever they choose.

If you have an interest in regular (or even ocassional) participation - please contact me for a user name and password at chris.crawley@tobaccotoday.info

So will this be a future headline that we will all be greeted by or is there another entity that will reach deep into their pockets and ante up a whole lot of peso’s. Or will Lorillard actually reach out and diversify their business? Is Swedish Match in their sights? How does Nat Sherman or National Tobacco fit? Or does Reynolds go down to Jacksonville and talk to the Swisher boys? So what are your thoughts? Are there any other combinations that make sense. So as the consolidation continues has it affected the business? Or is that all still to come in the future? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I am Fuente and I have been in the Tobacco business many, many years I and appreciate the opportunity that Chris Crawley has offered me to post blogs on this very informative tobacco blog.

This week it was again the turn of RJR employees to go through the down-sizing mill - this time 570+ white collar jobs in all sectors but espcecially R&D and IT.

The underlying cause is deteriorating volumes - both a shrinking market and a diminishing share. If there is ever an end in sight this situation has to turn around.

We wish the affected families and individuals all the best in this difficult time and for the future.

The deadline for submissions to the UK Department of Health consultation on Tobacco Control has now passed. I don’t know how many responses were submitted in total, but those I have spotted from tobacco companies can be accessed as follows: BAT here; Imperial Tobacco here ; Jti  here; PMI  here and those from health charities such as ASH(UK) and Cancer Research UK can be accessed  here and  here respectively. On the same day that the submission deadline closed, the Royal College of Physicians issued a new report “Ending smoking in Britain” which can be accessed here. While there is a lot of reading here (and I’m still ploughing through it all myself) I’d recommend anyone with an interest in harm reduction to look through the relevant sections of these submissions and especially the RCP report. I could be wrong, but there is perhaps more common ground on harm reduction (as least as a concept) than one might otherwise anticipate. What do others think?

A summary of responses will be made available on the Department of Health website at the end of the year so I guess we will have to wait and see what their overall take is on things. I should add that I based my own (minimalist in comparison!) response on five core arguments 1) An abstinence-only approach to tobacco control may have had its day; new thinking is needed,  2)  Formulaic regulatory proposals might be counterproductive: long-term beneficial public health outcomes should be paramount, 3)Harm reduction and product innovation; challenges and opportunities should be evaluated objectively, 4)A new regulatory framework covering all nicotine containing products would empower the consumer, 5) Incentive for business transformation within the tobacco industry; a key stakeholder that can be part of the solution. If anyone would like a copy of my submission, just flag this up in a response to this posting and I’ll work out some way to get it to you. Kindly note though that I don’t claim to have a monopoly on wisdom in this area; that’s another good reason to take a look at the submissions noted above, and the RCP report!

The conventions are over and the nominees have accepted - Tuesday November 4th will be upon us before we know it.

From an industry perpsective - the tobacco industry will be asking who will be the better candidate for them?

In the US both Schip legislation and FDA regulation are on the agenda. Both will have an enormous impact on the future of tobacco in the US.

John McCain on the Republican ticket - and normally the party more supportive of the industry - is campaigning as taking on big tobacco.

Democrat Barack Obama is a recent ex-smoker.

If you have an opinion vote here in our tobacco survey and check back to see how your colleagues think.

 Loading ...

Recent sources confirmed an estimated 500,000 master cases every month arriving in Brazil from Paraguay.

This increased from 400,000 and is more than likely caused by the recent closure by Receita Federal of several Brazilian cigarette producers.

Ironically, the closure has not benefitted the local suppliers but has migrated rapidly to Paraguay.

While Brazil insists on a disproportionately high tax burden for cigarettes in comparison to its neighbours this is likely to continue.

The Brazil market is estimated to be around 150 billion cigarettes 60 billion of which now come from Paraguay.

That’s an estimated 7 billion Reais in lost tax revenue.

Earlier postings on Tobacco Today - some months ago predicted PM USA would acquire either Swedish Match or USST to gain a significant entry into the smokelsss market. Evidently they’ve made their move - and we think its a smart move for PM USA.

They gain immediate participation in large portions of the smokeless category with big market shares. PM also gains significant product development access further enabling it to gain future synergies.

So who will acquire Swedish Match?