Tobacco News

THIRTY-EIGHT million kilogrammes of flue-cured tobacco worth US$112 million has been sold since the tobacco marketing season began in February.

This is about seven million kilogrammes more than the 31 million kg worth US$94,7 million sold during the same period last year.
According to the latest statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, 511 306 bales have been laid so far. Of these 471 129 went under the hammer while 40 177 were rejected. Ream more »

A Harare-based Chinese tobacco purchasing firm, Tian Ze Tobacco Company, on Thursday opened a new tobacco sales floor in the Zimbabwean capital catering specifically for its contracted farmers.

The company invested about 1 million U. S. dollars in setting up the sales floor, and has entered into a partnership with a local company to process tobacco sold at the floors.
Ream more »

It’s fascinating to watch the political dance around tobacco. Politicians tell us all about the evils of smoking tobacco and offer very public displays to curb people of the habit. But at the same time, they sit back and rake in the taxes drawn from people buying the legal product. In recent years, we have seen greater restrictions on where people can smoke and how vendors can display and sell tobacco products.
Ream more »

It continues to get harder for minors to purchase tobacco products in Winnebago County. Ninety-four businesses licensed to sell tobacco products were checked in 2010 to see if they would sell products to people under the age of 18. Only five of the businesses sold tobacco to minors, for a non-compliance rate of 5.3 percent — a 20 percent drop from the 25.2 percent countywide non-compliance rate in 2009.
Ream more »

Tobacco – Canadian manufacturers produced 1.8 billion cigarettes in October, down 7.5 per cent from September, according to Statistics Canada data released Thursday.

That downward trend continued when it came to the amount of cigarettes sold, which fell by 5.6 per cent to 1.7 billion. Closing inventories increased to 2.5 billion cigarettes, a jump of 3.7 per cent.
Ream more »

British researchers say putting tobacco out of sight in shops could help change attitudes toward smoking.

Researchers at the University of Nottingham in England have linked removal of tobacco displays in the Republic of Ireland to fewer young people believing smoking was widespread in their age-group — 46 percent after removal versus 62 percent before. Ream more »

SAN FRANCISCO, News — Walgreen Co., Woonsocket, R.I., was given the go ahead to proceed with a lawsuit challenging San Francisco’s first-in-the-nation law banning sales of tobacco products in some pharmacies, a California appeals court ruled, earlier this week.

The ordinance, passed in 2008 on the premise that drug store cigarette sales give “tacit approval” of unhealthy tobacco use by allowing pharmacies that are visited for health services to sell cigarettes. The law does not apply to grocery and or other big box stores.
The ruling reversed a San Francisco judge’s decision to dismiss Walgreen’s case.

A state appeals court here said there’s no rational basis to believe that the message conveyed to consumers by tobacco sales at Walgreen is any different than that from sales at supermarkets or big-box stores.
Ream more »

The owner of a Chatham convenience store and gas bar is losing thousands of dollars weekly due to contraband tobacco sales.
Hassan Elkhodr of Speed-D Mart on Bloomfield Road told members of the Canadian Convenience Store Association (CCSA) his cigarette sales have dropped from 300 cartons a month to less than 100 cartons.
According to the CCSA, two convenience stores close their doors every day in Ontario due to lost sales of tobacco products.
“It’s a very serious situation in Chatham-Kent,” Elkhodr told Steve Tennant, vice-president of the CCSA. “I know of several local stores that have closed their doors.”
Ream more »

Liquidity problems since the adoption of multiple currencies 14 months ago constrain government’s capital expenditure and make local industries less competitive. Read more

The most recent edition of the authoritative Tobacco Atlas, released by the American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation, ranks nations on their success in combating illegal sales of cigarettes and tobacco products. Read more