Under Article 9 and 10 of WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the sweeping list of ingredients banned from being added into cigarettes included artificial sweeteners as well as natural flavour enhancers such as cocoa and sugar, though menthol is not in the list.
At the inaugural Asia Tobacco Forum held in Jakarta recently, tobacco growers and companies have slammed the proposal, on grounds that it would hurt the industry and affect the livelihoods of millions of tobacco growers and ingredients suppliers worldwide.
“This regulation will be working against 50% of the market, which is not good for Asia, especially when this continent is identified as the new area of growth for the industry,” International Tobacco Growers’ Association chairman Roger Quarles said.
Tobacco manufacturers said Indonesia was likely to be most affected by the ban, given that it was the largest tobacco producer in the region — with tobacco plantation acreage of about 212,700 acres (85,080ha) that produces more than 177,000 tonnes of leaves annually.
Out of the total production of tobacco leaves, more than 90% is used to manufacture the kretek — cigarettes that consist of a blend of tobacco leaves and cloves. Cloves are also banned under the WHO FCTC draft proposal.
Norman reading out the declaration at the Asia Tobacco Forum recently
When met, the Association of Indonesian Tobacco Growers’ president H Soedaryanto said because of the ban, more than half or over RM500 million of Indonesia’s cigarette exports, would be affected.
On the Malaysian front, a tobacco analyst from OSK Research said given that the stringent guidelines would affect governments’ collection of excise duties from cigarettes, the proposed ingredients ban might not see the light of day.
“As such, we are still neutral on the impact of the new guidelines on the tobacco sector, as we believe the proposed ingredient ban could be softened, which may turn out to have minimal impact on cigarettes manufactured here,” the analyst said.
This is because unlike cigarettes manufactured in Indonesia, the cigarettes manufactured domestically are mainly classical ones or those that contain menthol, which is not among the ingredients that are proposed to be banned, he explained.
The three largest tobacco manufacturers in the country are British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd, Philip Morris (Malaysia) Bhd and JT International Tobacco (M) Bhd.
Still, local tobacco manufacturers and farmers are concerned that the ban might be pushed through, and are planning to lobby against the proposed ban on grounds that the livelihood of Malaysian farmers could be affected as well.
According to the Kelantan Tobacco Farmers and Curers’ chairman Norman Md Noor, who represents some 2,000 farmers and was in Jakarta to attend the tobacco forum, the local tobacco farming industry has an employment force of more than 40,000 people.
Written by Yong Yen Nie
The Edge Malaysia
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