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Tobacco in Vietnam to 2011 - New Research Report on Companies and Markets 

This databook is a detailed information resource covering all the key data points on Tobacco in Vietnam. It includes comprehensive value volume segmentation and market share data. The databook supplies actual data to 2006 and full forecasts to 2011.

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Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City Red Cross goes green (and smokeless)  

Nguyen Thi Hue, the president of the Ho Chi Minh City chapter of the Vietnamese Red Cross (VNRC), believes smokers should set an example - by not smoking outside in public.

In effect, it's the opposite principle to the one that applies in the West, where the "smokers' huddle" outside big-city office buildings has become a much-discussed social phenomenon.

But Red Cross volunteers quietly get the "do it in private" message across to prosperous Vietnamese smokers whenever they can.

Madame Hue (as she's universally known) says that ideally nobody should smoke at all. But when it comes to cigarettes in Asia, and especially in a country where some hotels thoughtfully leave new packs in the rooms of arriving guests and nice clean ashtrays are a ubiquity in bars and restaurants, someone has to start somewhere. . . .

It's one example of the VNRC having to broaden its horizons to take up new challenges, she told the International Federation in an interview at the chapter headquarters.

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Children say no to smoking 

Van Ho Junior High School launched a competition on Tuesday in the capital looking for paintings by children, for children under the theme For an environment Without Tobacco Smoke.

The management board is hoping that children across the country will join the competition. Children from Hanoi and other northern provinces like Ha Tay and Hai Phong are already planning to make a giant painting (around 20m in length) to spread the word of the damaging effects of tobacco, according to Nguyen Thi Ha, head of the competition�?(TM)s management board.

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Non-smoking week launched 

A national non-smoking week, from May 25 to 31, was launched on May 24 by the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the World Health Organisation. . . .

In Vietnam, 56% of men and 1.8% of women are smokers. Young people account for 31% of the number of smokers. Smoking each year kills around 40,000 people.

Responding to the World Non-smoking Day, May 31, the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Public Health worked out measures to reduce the number of smokers in 2008.

Concretely, new legal documents will be issued while the education of damage caused by smoking will be promoted.

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• Vietnam calls for tobacco-free young generation 

Vietnam will launch a National Non-smoking Week from May 25-31 in an effort to raise public responsibility in protecting young people from the dangers of smoking.

A meeting was held in Hanoi on May 24 by the Health Ministry in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to mark World Non-smoking Day (May 31) and the National Non-smoking Week.

To achieve the target of the National Non-smoking Week, according to a Health Ministry official, ban should be imposed on all forms of advertisement, trade promotions and sponsorship by tobacco companies in addition to the introduction of policies, such as increasing retail prices and import tax and putting a ban on selling cigarettes to under-18 people.

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Workshop advocates nationwide smoking ban 

Vietnam should ban smoking in at least 80 per cent of public places by 2010 and reduce its smoking rate among men to 30 per cent from the current 53 per cent, according to speakers at a workshop held yesterday in HCM City.

The workshop, held by the HCM City Health Education and Communication Centre, was attended by employees at hospitals, schools and district offices.

Recent reports of the city’s Health Department show that more teenagers are smoking and that 53 per cent of the city’s male population smoke, with only two per cent of females smoking.

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Booze, tobacco lobbies want tough penalties for smuggling 

Delegates called for more stringent penalties for violations while discussing a proposed decree regulating the production and trade of alcoholic and tobacco products at a meeting in Hanoi Friday.

At the meeting chaired by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, official agencies and companies said the fines proposed in the decree, ranging from VND200,000 to VND60 million (US$12.42-3,700), would fail to deter violators.

Violation of intellectual property rights (IPR) pertaining to invention, design, and brand name will incur the highest fine.

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Workshop advocates nationwide smoking ban 

iet Nam should ban smoking in at least 80 per cent of public places by 2010 and reduce its smoking rate among men to 30 per cent from the current 53 per cent, according to speakers at a workshop held yesterday in HCM City.

The workshop, held by the HCM City Health Education and Communication Centre, was attended by employees at hospitals, schools and district offices.

Recent reports of the city's Health Department show that more teenagers are smoking and that 53 per cent of the city's male population smoke, with only two per cent of females smoking.

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• Cigarette smugglers outwit officials 

AN GIANG -- Renewed efforts to stop contraband cigarettes being imported from Cambodia are likely to prove ineffective as the authorities admit to losing control over the market.

A "hot spot" for smuggled cigarettes, the southern province of An Giang has become a thriving centre for traffickers.

On the 50km road connecting Long Xuyen City with the border town of Chau Doc, many motorbike drivers were found to be carrying large packages of cigarettes while speeding.

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• Rampant cigarette smuggling costs Vietnam $186 mln annually 

Tobacco smuggling is on the increase and costs Vietnam between US$155 million and $186 million a year in tax, a meeting on Friday in Ho Chi Minh City heard.

At the meeting, the Vietnam Tobacco Association and relevant agencies reviewed the fight against cigarette smuggling and discussed measures to intensify crackdowns.

Illegal imports of tobacco and cigarettes mainly through land borders with Laos and Cambodia were steadily increasing, according to figures from market research firm ACNielsen and the central steering committee responsible for combating contraband, fake goods, and trade fraud.

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• More information on health risks to be added to cigarette packages 

More information on the harmful effect of smoking will be put on domestically-produced cigarettes beginning March 17, according to an announcement by the Ministry of Health.

The warnings will consist of pictures or words covering 30 percent of the surface of the package.

Five warning messages will be used: “Smoking causes lung cancer”, “Smoking harms pregnant women and children”, “Smoking causes intra-cerebral hemorrhage”, “Smoking causes chronic obstructive lung disease”, and “Smokers will suffer halitosis and teeth decay”.

This move follows Viet Nam’s ratification of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

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Former officials stand trial in Lao Cai 

The trial of a former provincial people's committee member; senior customs and police officers and company executives for alleged tobacco smuggling started in the Lao Cai Provincial Court on Wednesday. . . .

Prosecutors told the judges that Nguyen Thi Lien had help establish the Thien Loi Hoa Company which had duplicated import contracts with a Chinese company to bring illegal tobacco leaf into Viet Nam after quotas were introduced in 2004.

The company had imported at least 14,000 tonnes of tobacco

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In Briefs: HCM City finds illegal cigarette storage 

Some 5,800 illegally-imported cigarette cartons were discovered yesterday in HCM City by the city police.

These goods were found at a house on Nguyen Kiem Street of Phu Nhuan District. The house was rented by Ngo Thi Man, who used it as the headquarters of the Thien Bao Navy Trade and Service Company. Investigations showed that Man had been involved in illegal cigarette trafficking for many years.

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Vietnam promotes non-smoking environment 

Burke Fishburn, the World Health Organisation’s free-tobacco initiative coordinator, said more than 50% of population in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, is exposed to cigarette smoke.

The WHO coordinator was addressing a conference on promoting non-smoking environment which took place in Thailand on December 3. The conference was held by the Thai Ministry of Public Health, the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance and the Actions on Smoking and Health (ASH).

Truong Thanh Can, deputy director of the Department for Propaganda and Training of the Vietnam Confederation of Labour, said a campaign for a non-smoking work place has been carried out for six months.

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• 30,000-40,000 Vietnamese die from smoking annually  

Between 30,000 and 40,000 people in Vietnam die of diseases caused by smoking each year, according to local newspaper Youth on Monday.

Some 56 percent of local men aged 15 upwards are cigarette smokers, the newspaper quoted the Vietnam Tobacco Control Program as reporting.

In recent years, smokers in Vietnam have spent over 8.2 trillion Vietnamese dong (512.5 million U.S. dollars) on smoking, said the program's secretary, Phan Thi Hai.

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