Tobacco

(Photo taken by Geierunited)

500 million of today's smokers will be killed by tobacco

Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death. Tobacco kills up to 1 in 2 users. In a new report which presents the first comprehensive analysis of global tobacco use and control efforts, WHO finds that only 5% of the world’s population live in countries that fully protect their population with any one of the key measures that reduce smoking rates (WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 - The MPOWER package).

Not a single country fully implements all key tobacco control measures. It finds that tobacco taxes, the single most effective strategy, could be significantly increased in nearly all countries, providing a source of sustainable funding to implement and enforce the recommended approach, a package of six policies called MPOWER:

Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies

Protect people from tobacco smoke

Offer help to quit tobacco use

Warn about the dangers of tobacco

Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship

Raise taxes on tobacco

Ireland is highlighted in the report as the place where smoke-free bars are the most popular [PDF, p.27]

Addiction spreads faster than information writes the Economist (7/2/08) in How to save a billion lives. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), perhaps 100m people died prematurely during the 20th century as a result of tobacco, making it the leading preventable cause of death and one of the top killers overall. Another 1 billion more may die from it in this century if current trends continue unchecked.

Spending on tobacco control is tiny even though tobacco is a much bigger killer than HIV/AIDS [PDF, p.9]

Nigeria’s government is suing three international tobacco firms for $44bn - the first such case in the developing world - due to start in the capital, Abuja in March. 

Tobacco had been projected to kill 50% more people in 2015 than HIV/AIDS, and to be responsible for 10% of all deaths globally [PDF] but those figures may now be out-of-date as the HIV/AIDS estimates have been lowered.

The Market

The tobacco industry produces more than 5,000 billion cigarettes a year globally.

The biggest market is China where some 350 million smokers consume around 1,800 billion cigarettes a year, or 35 per cent of the global total.

The Industry

The industry in China is largely state-owned. Outside of China, stock market quoted international tobacco companies compete and account for more than 51 per cent of the global market. The market shares are:

• Philip Morris 18.7 per cent;
• British American Tobacco (including associates' total volumes) 17.1 per cent;
• Japan Tobacco 7.7 per cent; (before its takeover of UK-based Gallaher below);
• Imperial Tobacco 3.5 per cent;
• Gallaher 3.1 per cent; and
• Altadis 2.1 per cent.

Philip Morris International (PMI)

"Between 1970 and 2005, it has experienced extraordinary growth. Volume has increased from 87 billion cigarettes to 805 billion. This volume growth has been accompanied by an equally impressive increase in net revenues: from $425 million to more than $45 billion in the same period. In 2005 our operating income was $7.8 billion, a more than hundredfold increase on 1970.

"We now employ over 70,000 people worldwide, and our brands, made in more than 50 factories around the world, are sold in some 160 countries."

PMI's top brands are Marlboro and L&M, two of the top 3 world brands by sales.

PMI is an operating company of Altria Group, Inc.  Some of the countries (including China) and regions (including Africa) it has sales in are listed in Altria annual reports.

British American Tobacco

"We are the world’s second largest quoted tobacco group by global market share, with brands sold in more than 180 markets.

"With over 300 brands in our portfolio, we make the cigarette chosen by one in six of the world’s one billion adult smokers. We hold robust market positions in each of our regions and have leadership in more than 50 markets."

in 2006, British American Tobacco has revenues of £1.5bn and sales volume of 103 billion units in Africa and the Middle East, for example.

International brands: Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall; also Vogue in the super premium segment and Viceroy, a leading low price international brand.

Articles:

BAT 'dragged out' of Burma Terry Macalister, Friday November 7, 2003, The Guardian

Smoke and mirrors George Monbiot, Tuesday August 23, 2005, The Guardian

Japan Tobacco / Gallaher

Japan Tobacco International (JTI) is developing business in about 120 countries spanning Western Europe, Asia, the Americas and the CIS region. JTI previously acquired RJR Nabisco. It's flagship brands are Camel, Winston, Mild Seven, and Salem.

In April 2007, JT purchased the Gallaher Group of the U.K. Brands include Benson & Hedges, Silk Cut, Memphis, Sobranie, LD and Sovereign, "with high market shares in the leading European nations and the CIS region, which has recently been achieving outstanding growth."

Details of Gallaher's international operations can be found in old Gallaher annual reports. E.g., operations in Nigeria where, in 2005, "the Group grew its cigarette volume sales by 58.3%, largely attributed to an excellent performance from Dorchester Menthol" and in South Africa.

Industry links

WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC)

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is the first global health treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization. This convention is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. It represents a paradigm shift in developing a regulatory strategy to address addictive substances; in contrast to previous drug control treaties, the WHO FCTC asserts the importance of demand reduction strategies as well as supply reduction issues.

The WHO FCTC was developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic. The spread of the tobacco epidemic is exacerbated by a variety of complex factors with cross-border effects, including trade liberalization, direct foreign investment, global marketing, transnational tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and the international movement of contraband and counterfeit cigarettes. It entered into force on 27 February 2005.

Smoking in public places

On Sunday July 1st, 2007, a smoking ban in enclosed public places in England came into effect. The BBC News Website traces the recent wave of smoking bans around the world as governments seek to improve the health of their populations: 

England has been slacking compared to Ireland but Tanzania was even quicker off the mark with a ban in July 2003. Kenya is currently drafting legislation. Smoking generates 5bn shillings ($65m) for the Kenyan government but costs five times as much in disease, disability and death. India had 112m smokers and 96m who used tobacco products in 1996. India has since been tightening laws on smoking in public places but to little effect.