Tobacco.org

Turkish law to stub out smoking  

Turkey is about to break with its smoky past and introduce a law that bans lighting up in public buildings and at work places and threatens offenders with fines of up to 250,000 lira (Dh727,000).

But the question is: will anyone take note?

The "law for the prevention and control of damages done by tobacco products", which was passed by parliament in January and comes into force on May 19, bans smoking in public buildings and private companies as well as in facilities used for education, sport, social activities or cultural events. Public transport will also have to be smoke-free, the law said; even taxi drivers will have to stop smoking in their cars.

Open-air facilities, such as sport stadiums or concert arenas as well as old people's homes and prisons, can designate smoking areas. Bars, restaurants and tea-houses have been granted a grace period but will have to be smoke-free by July 19 next year.

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• Turkey readies to go cold turkey  

Smoking in all enclosed areas,except residences and designated areas, will be prohibited starting Monday. However, smokers and business owner still do not exactly know the extent of the ban and they choose to follow the wait and see principle at the moment. They criticize the law as being too strict and believe the ban will not be implemented fully

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• 95 percent of 1,000 tons of tobacco illegaly obtained  

Selar, Smyrna, İmeks, and Şerbetli are four firms producing flavored nargile tobacco. The annual sales rate of these firms is about 24 tons. But "tömbeki," a special type of tobacco used in nargile, is only produced by Tekel. The four firms established during 2004-05 to supply flavored tobacco for the domestic market as a result of the recent spread of nargile smoking have tended to exports due to the hegemony of illegal tobacco penetrating the domestic market from abroad, and the increase in taxes. . . .

The Aegean city of İzmir is the center of nargile manufacturing. But Istanbul, too, played its part until a few years ago. Workshops in Kapalıçarşı (the Grand Bazaar) were working hard to supply nargiles to more than 200 souvenir shops in the bazaar. But 25 of about 40 workshops in Kapalıçarşı had to close down due cheap nargiles that were imported from China three years ago. . . .

The latest ban on smoking of tobacco products, including the nargile, was approved in Parliament on Jan. 3, 2008. Nargile cafes have been given an extension of one-an-a-half years to implement the ban.

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S.Korea's Tobacco Giant Opens First Overseas Plant In Turkey 

South Korea`s top tobacco company Korean Tobacco & Ginseng (KT&G) has opened on Thursday a factory in Turkey which is the first overseas plant of the company.

KT&G plans to produce two cigarette brands at its plant in Aegean province of Izmir, company`s chief executive Kwak Young Kyoon said at the opening ceremony.

The plant, which has the capacity to produce 2 billion cigarettes a year, will ship 60 percent of its production to central European and Middle Eastern countries, mainly to Iran, Bulgaria, Hungary and Spain.

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• Turkey Immersed in Smoke despite Imminent Ban 

Despite the complete smoking ban that is supposed to come into force in September, Turkey is immersed in cigarette smoke, national media reported.

A new law that prohibits smoking in all public places, including cafés, restaurants and bars, was voted and approved in January. It is expected to come into force in September.

Despite the impending ban, however, Turkey shows no sign of cutting down or giving up on cigarettes. A recent publication of the Anatolian Agency contained some facts indicative of the trend: in 2007, 76 packs of cigarettes were smoked per person and around 22.5 million euros are spent on cigarettes daily.

Other data shows that nearly half of Turkey’s population – about 25 million people, smoke. Beside being a major consumer, the country is also a major tobacco producer.

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• Watchdog approves TEKEL sale to British American Tobacco 

The Competition Board has approved the sale of alcohol and tobacco monopoly TEKEL’s tobacco division to British American Tobacco (BAT), the board announced yesterday on its Web site.

The Competition Board decided that the takeover of TEKEL’s tobacco division by BAT would not cause any competition problems in the market after deliberating on the sale at its meeting on Thursday.

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Drought afflicts Turkish farms in 2007 

Yesterday the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) announced 2007 crop production numbers based on data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. . . .

Tobacco production was approximately 80,000 tons last year, a decline of 18.5 percent from 2006.

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• American Smokers and Income, Charted 

While it was established long ago that smoking rates are higher among the poor, a Gallup survey released on Friday suggests there is a sliding scale: smoking decreases as income increases.

The poll, based on interviews with more than 75,000 Americans this year, also indicated that Americans are thoroughly worldly when it comes to lighting up -- they smoke at almost the same rate as the worldwide median. A 2006 poll concluded that 22 percent of mankind smoked; 21 percent of Americans smoke, according to today's count.

Among the huddled masses smoking outside the United Nations in Manhattan (smoking was banned indoors in 2003), Turks seem most likely to be in attendance. According to Gallup's last estimate, 50 percent of Turkey's citizens smoke, far more than any other.

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Turkish union seeks court block on BAT's Tekel buy 

A Turkish labour union wants a court annulment of the sale of state-owned cigarette firm Tekel to British American Tobacco, the union's lawyer told Reuters on Tuesday.

BAT, the world's second largest cigarette group, won the auction for Tekel on Feb. 22, beating off three Turkish rivals with the highest bid of $1.72 billion in a deal increasing its market share fivefold.

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• Turkish union files a suit against Tekel sale 

British tobacco firm won the auction to buy Turkey's state-owned cigarette maker Tekel with a raised bid of USD 1.72bln. Tekel Workers' Labour Union filed an appeal at the Supreme Court of Appeals for the stay of execution of the sale of Tekel Cigarettes.

A press release issued by the Tekgida-Is said the appeal also asked the cancellation of the February 22th, 2008 decision of the "tender commission" for the privatization of Tekel through asset sale.

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BAT Bids $1.72 Billion to Win Turkey's Tekel Auction (Update4) 

British American Tobacco Plc will buy cigarette maker Tekel from the Turkish government for $1.72 billion to eat into Philip Morris International's market lead in the nation.

BAT, the maker of Lucky Strike cigarettes, beat Citigroup Venture Capital International, private-equity firm Cinven Ltd., and Turkey's Dogan Sirketler Grubu Holding AS in the bidding for Tekel . . .

``Turkey is an interesting market, as it's one of the world's top 10,'' said Jonathan Fell, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG in London with a ``buy'' rating on BAT. ``This is a chance to get an equal-ish market share with Philip Morris International. I can see why they're interested.''

The sale price topped the $1 billion to $1.6 billion valuation range for Tekel that JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts estimated last year.

BAT rose 16 pence, or 0.9 percent, to 1,874 pence in trading in London

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• BAT wins Turkish Tekel auction with $1.7 billion bid  

British American Tobacco, the world's second largest cigarette group, won the auction for Turkish state-owned tobacco firm Tekel on Friday after beating off three Turkish rivals with the highest bid of $1.72 billion.

London-based BAT will now grab the No 2 spot in the world's eighth largest tobacco market as Ankara finally sold an asset it has been trying to privatise for about five years, but the deal raised concerns over job losses and factory closures.

The deal comes just weeks after Turkey's parliament approved a law banning smoking in public places over the next 15 months which BAT estimates will cut smoking levels by 5 percent in a market where Turks smoke around 110 billion cigarettes a year.

BAT, which makes brands such as Kent, Pall Mall, Dunhill and Lucky Strike cigarettes, said the deal would lead to cost savings, enhance earnings and transform its Turkish business which has been loss-making since it entered the market in 2002.

"This deal transforms our business in a market which we think is important for us," BAT Chief Executive Paul Adams told a conference call after announcing the deal. . . .

Unionised workers said on Friday they were occupying Tekel buildings and would not leave, in protest against the sale

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• BAT wins TEKEL tobacco bid for $1.72 billion 

The privatization of Turkey's alcohol and tobacco monopoly TEKEL's tobacco division is finally complete, as British American Tobacco (BAT) won the tender yesterday with a $1.72 billion bid.

The tender, the third attempt to privatize TEKEL's tobacco division since 2003, was held yesterday in İstanbul. The sealed bids for the privatization had been received on Feb.18, and the date and time of the auction were withheld to prevent protests by worker and socialist groups opposed to the privatization of the company.

Privatization Administration (�İB) President Metin Kilci said after the tender that they were going to take all the necessary measures to protect the rights of TEKEL workers. He said the hand-over process will be completed after the necessary approval is granted by the Competition Board and the Supreme Privatization Board (�YK).

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British American Tobacco wins auction for Turkish state tobacco company assets 

British American Tobacco today confirmed it has won the auction for the cigarette business assets of Tekel, the Turkish state-owned tobacco company, with a bid of US$ 1.72 billion.

The transaction is subject to approval by Turkey’s Competition Board and ratification by the Turkish Privatisation High Council. Signing and completion are expected later this year.

On completion, the acquisition will elevate British American Tobacco’s market share in Turkey to around 36 per cent from just over 7 per cent today.

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• BAT win reinforces Turkish presence 

British American Tobacco has strengthened its presence in Turkey, the world's eighth-largest tobacco market, outgunning rival bidders to win the auction for Tekel Cigarette, the state-owned cigarette maker.

The maker of Lucky Strikes emerged victorious with a $1.72bn bid after its rivals - Citigroup Ventures, Cinven and Dogan, a Turkish media and consumer goods conglomerate - bowed out during the process.

The price is towards the high end of market expectations that had put the value of Tekel at $1.5bn-$1.8bn. . . .

Jonathan Fell, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said: "This looks like a pretty sensible deal to me. The multiples are not extreme and it's a chance to get an equalish market share with Philip Morris in a country where we are still seeing growth."

The Turkish cigarette market is dominated by Philip Morris, the US group, which has 40 per cent of the market. If successful, the transaction will lift BAT's share of the Turkish market from 7 per cent to 36 per cent.

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