Cigarette Marketing Increases as Tobacco Use Drops

Cigarette volumes have been dropping for many years, but that has not prevented cigarette makers from launching their wallets for advertising and promotion dollars. As outlined by the Federal Trade Commission, the biggest tobacco firms invested $8.37 billion in 2011 on advertising and special offers in comparison to $8.05 billion in 2010. The boost primarily

Aberdeen airport opens pre-flight smoking zone

The chief at Aberdeen International Airport has decided to establish a special airside smoking zone at the busy airport to enable smokers to use a cigarette before boarding their planes. The smoking zone was opened to the travellers on May 9, along with the major departure area, for customers who have been processed through security

British cigarette branding plan retains

The British authorities is still looking at banning branding on cigarette packages despite the fact that it disregarded recommendations from its legislative agenda presented in parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister David Cameron said. Britain had seemed to become the first European nation to make tobacco companies to remove brand names and to use standardized packaging,

Supermarkets launch ban to display cigarettes

Supermarkets were banned from displaying cigarettes and other tobacco products after new rule became effective on April, 29. Public Health Minister Michael Matheson states that this step is the “right step” to discourage the younger generation from start smoking. The open display ban was implemented as part of the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland)

Why Cigarettes Are so Expensive in New York

Smokers in the USA will certainly tell about the enormous price inconsistencies for cigarettes state to state. The key cause for high cigarette prices is the varying excise taxes (SET) that each state sets on a pack of cigarettes. Citi’s Tobacco team directed by Vivien Azer expects SETs to only turn into an growing trouble

Altria to Enter E-Cigarette Market

Altria Group Inc. made an announcement that it would create its own variation of e-cigarettes in the second half of 2013 amid signs the battery-powered gadgets, which turn heated, nicotine-laced liquid into vapor, are starting to go sales of regular cigarettes in the U.S., less than 10 years after appearing. The CDC reports that more

Alternative tobacco use up in teenagers

Children younger than 18 are using different types of tobacco products more often across the state of Ohio.

Instead of smoking cigarettes, some students are chewing tobacco, or smoking cigars or flavored tobacco from a hookah, according to the American Lung Association in Ohio.

But these students who are expanding their tobacco use aren't just high school students. According to the study, 4.5 percent of middle school students have smoked cigarettes, compared with 16.7 percent of high school students.

The numbers are comparable to these figures throughout the different types of tobacco use. Between 3.5 percent and 3.9 percent of middle school students have used chewing tobacco, smoked a hookah or cigars or used Snus, a chewless tobacco. For high school students, the percentages are lower for chewing tobacco and Snus, 8.8 percent and 7 percent, respectively, with a spike for hookah use, at nearly 20 percent.
Locally, there isn't much going on in terms of prevention for students outside of the school walls.

Students are introduced to the harms of smoking in their health classes and through the D.A.R.E. or P.L.U.S. anti-drug programs, if their school districts use them.

The Peers Learning Usable Skills program will be cut because of lack of funding for the coming school year. The program is conducted by the Lake County Narcotics Agency.

Funding has been a problem across the county for youth smoking prevention programs, said Ron Graham, Lake County deputy health commissioner.

The Lake County General Health District is looking to partner with Lake Health in hopes of beginning programming, he said.

"We tend to be more of a smoking community in Lake County than in others," he said, adding he thinks it's time to create more options that address young smokers.

The conversations between the health district and Lake Health are just beginning. Graham said he hopes the partnership will make cessation programs affordable for adults and minors.

New data was collected in 2012, but it is unknown when that will be released. The latest statistics from the American Lung Association are from 2010.

Cigarette use has actually dipped from previous available records from 2008, as students seemingly favor other methods of using tobacco.

JTI worried about impact of illegal cigarette sales, cheaper local brands

JT International Bhd (JTI) is expecting the industry to “remain extremely challenging” this year due to the continued sale of illegal cigarettes and the impact from certain local brands being sold below the Government-mandated minimum cigarette price.
The company, which has the second-biggest cigarette market share in the country and is the maker of Winston cigarettes, cited a recent Goldman Sachs intelligence report that stated that illicit trade in Malaysia was the second-highest in the world.
“If you look at the illicit trade situation in the market today, total illicit trade (of the entire market) last year was at 34.5%, which is just a marginal decline from 2011's 36.1%.
“These are still very high figures, and we are the second-highest in the world,” JTI's chief financial officer Thean Nam Hooi told journalists after its AGM.
While acknowledging the enforcement agencies' efforts to reduce the trade, he said any further drastic increases in excise duties might result in undesired outcomes for the industry.
“Any further drastic excise hikes would probably push total excise revenues down, so I can't gauge what the Government would do. But we are hopeful that there would be a pragmatic approach to excise taxation moving forward,” Thean said.
The company's managing director Robert Stanworth hopes that any increase in the excise duties would be done in an organised manner.
“The important thing with excise duties, as we have experienced in many organisations in many markets, is that it be moderate and predictable.
“We understand that the Government might want to increase it from time to time, but it is important that it is moderate and predictable to a certain degree so that the market can absorb it,” he said.
“Any large and sudden increase almost inevitably causes a decline in the legitimate market, resulting in lower revenues for the Government at the end of the day,” Stanworth added.
Meanwhile, JTI said that while it did not have a formal dividend policy, any excess liquidity on top of its working capital needs would be returned as dividends.
On another matter, the company will rebrand its Mild Seven cigarettes to Mevius by the middle of this year.
This would involve the full range of the Mild Seven brand, an official statement said.
According to the Nielsen Retail Audit Report, JTI recorded a market share of 19.6% in 2012, compared to 19.9% the year before.
Its Mild Seven recorded an increase in market share to 4.4% last year from 4.1% in 2011. Winston's market share, in the meantime, declined to 9.8% last year from 10% in 2011.

Camel Centenary "Celebration"-April 2013

Munich Airport display for 100th anniversary of Camel: Note the delicious opportunities for parody with "Every Camel Tells a Story" (of death and disease) and "100 Years of Inspiring Creativity" (and ingenious marketing and product design methods of keeping smokers hooked and attracting children)

BAT sales up 5 pct, driven by global brands

British American Tobacco, the producer of Dunhill, Kent and Lucky Strike cigarettes, reported revenue growth of 5 percent at constant rates of exchange in the first quarter ended March 31, adding that global drive brand cigarette volumes grew by 1 percent.
The report stated:

• Revenue growth of 1 percent at current rates of exchange.
• Cigarette volumes from subsidiaries fell 3.7 percent to 160 billion, with a decrease of 3.4 percent for total tobacco volumes.
• Board confident of another year of earnings growth in line with long term strategic goals.
• Pricing environment remains strong despite difficult trading conditions in many parts of the world, notably southern Europe.
• If current exchange rates persist for the rest of the year, the currency headwind that adversely impacted the quarter will reverse.
• Group has sufficient financing and facilities available for the foreseeable future.
• There have been no material events, transactions or changes in the financial position of the Group since the year end.
• -Shares closed Wednesday at 3548 pence valuing the company at £68.25 billion.

Altria plans e-cig sales, Marlboro demand falls

Altria Group, the largest seller of tobacco in the U.S., plans to introduce an e-cigarette this year, chasing smaller rivals as demand for traditional smokes declines.
The e-cigarette will be sold in an undisclosed market starting in the second half of 2013, Richmond, Virginia-based Altria said today in a statement. The company declined to provide additional information until a conference call with analysts today, according to a story in Bloomburg News.
CEO Martin Barrington is trying to catch up to smaller rivals such as closely held NJOY and Lorillard Inc., which says its Blu e-cigs brand controls more than 40 percent of the U.S. market. Reynolds American Inc. said this week it plans to expand its Vuse e-cigarette this year.
First-quarter cigarette shipments fell at Altria, Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Reynolds and Greensboro, North Carolina-based Lorillard. Altria’s U.S. volume tumbled 5.2 percent, with top-selling and most popular cigarettes, known as Marlboro, slipping 5.5 percent.
Lorillard CEO Murray Kessler told analysts yesterday the company estimates that e-cigarette sales displaced consumption of about 600 million cigarettes in the first quarter. That translates to an annual rate of about 2.4 billion cigarettes, accounting for about 1 percent of the U.S. market, according to Kenneth Shea, a Bloomberg Industries analyst in Skillman, New Jersey.