Tobacco.org

BAT records 5.6% growth 

BRITISH American Tobacco (BAT Zambia) PLC has recorded a 5.6 per cent growth in sales volume for the year ended.

Finance director and company secretary, Benedict Mwila said the company’s improvement resulted in posting a sales volume of 851 million cigarette sticks.

He attributed the growth to optimising coverage to untapped areas in addition to the country-wide coverage the company has.

Jump to full article »

Tobacco farms under receivership 

A NUMBER of tobacco farms have been placed under receivership in Zambia because of diminishing returns in the industry arising from increased production costs and effects of climate, Tobacco Association of Zambia (TAZ) president, Albert Van Wyk, has said.

Mr Van Wyk said the industry was hoping for a substantial increase in the global price of the crop in order to help boost the industry.

He said the erratic power supply and flooding has led to a huge increase in production costs in the sector this season and induced reductions in crop yields.

Jump to full article »

Zambia Tobacco told not to sell-up 

The Tobacco Association of Zambia will not be allowed to proceed with the sale of its assets until an agricultural task force is appointed to review the sale.

The Lusaka government has strongly reminded the association that their assets and facilities are intended to help small-scale farmers.

Jump to full article »

Improved tobacco production 

Agriculture Minister Ben Kapita has called for improved tobacco production because the cash crop is contributing immensely to the economic growth.

Mr. Kapita said Government will therefore fully support activities meant to promote the growth of the tobacco industry.

The minister said this in Choma, Thursday in a speech read by acting District Commissioner Mungoni Simulilika at the 16th graduation ceremony at Popota Tobacco Training College.

Jump to full article »

Times of Zambia 

TOBACCO production has been projected to increase to approximately 50 million from 35 million kilogrammes per annum. Tobacco Association of Zambia (TBA) executive director, Jewette Masinja, said the Tobacco industry was also expected to increase earnings to over US$65 million per annum in exports as a result of the new Chinese market that had opened up. Speaking in an interview, Dr Masinja said the new Chinese market was important to the industry because it would act as a catalyst to drive local production to higher levels than the current 35 million kilogrammes annually.

Jump to full article »

• Malawi presses tobacco fight 

But the country, while still pursing the diversification agenda, has not given up the fight to rescue a crop that is very much the backbone of the country’s economy as oil is to the Middle East. This time, however, Malawi does not want to continue with the battle alone. Economic Report has established that Malawi has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with tobacco producing countries of Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to help position the industry so that the countries reap more. Industry, Trade and Private Sector Minister Ken Lipenga said in an interview that the MOU was signed last November. Among other things, he said, the agreement looks at issues of collective marketing as well as value-adding.

Jump to full article »

Cotton and Tobacco to suffer 

Agriculture Minister, Ben Kapita says Cotton and Tobacco in Eastern Province are likely to suffer.

This is because there has been a reduction of farmers who have cultivated the crop.

Mr. Kapita said the development has arisen because farmers and ginners could not agree on the sale price of the crop this farming season.

Jump to full article »

Zambia rakes in 22 million dollars from tobacco sale 

About 22.5 million U.S. dollars was raised from the sale of 11,571 tons of tobacco on the Lusaka floors between March and September 7, Times of Zambia reported Friday.

According to sale records from the Tobacco Association of Zambia, six companies sold their tobacco at the Lusaka floors at an average price of 1.95 per kg.

The companies includes TAZ, Zambia Leaf Tobacco(ZLT), Tombwe, Alliance 1, Association Central and T L Brokers.

Jump to full article »

Zambia to see tobacco production hike in 2006 

The Tobacco Association of Zambia ( TAZ) has predicted that this year's tobacco production will go up to top 15,000 tons thanks to more growers and improved planting methods, local media reported Friday.

TAZ director Jewette Masinja was quoted by Zambia Daily Mail as saying that tobacco sales in Zambia have seen a significant increment in the last few years from 3,000 tons in 1999 to 13,000 tons last year and the momentum is well maintained.

Jump to full article »

Tobacco sales closure ignites smuggling 

The suspension of tobacco sales in the country last week has escalated cases of tobacco smuggling to neighbouring countries as farmers do not have any other option, it has been established.

Tobacco Association of Malawi (Tama) Executive Secretary Felix Mkumba confirmed the development saying his office has received reports of smuggling activities taking place, especially on the boarder towns of Sinda Misale and Thyola Sanu near Namitete in Lilongwe.

“As growers, we would like the government to resolve the issue of prices with the buyers urgently so that the markers can open and the malpractice can stop,” he said.

Jump to full article »

Lusaka Businessman Loses Court Case 

a Chipata firm has sued a subordinate court for referring a matter to the High Court because it has no jurisdiction and is seeking a declaration that the decision be declared null and void.

This is in a case in which Stancom Tobacco Services Limited (STSL) of Umodzi Highway in Chipata sued Ford Tembo for failure to honour an agreement in which STSL loaned Tembo K240 million by way of cash and cheque advances for the purchase of tobacco.

Jump to full article »

• 6,000 Children Working On Tobacco Farms - Choma Da 

OVER 6,000 children are working on family tobacco farms, Choma district administrative officer Mungoni Simulilika has said.

During celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of HODI, a local non-governmental Organisation in Choma, Simulilika said the figure did not include children working in local tobacco commercial farms.

He said there was rampant abuse of school children by tobacco farmers.

"According to the baseline survey conducted by HODI early this year, Mbabala and Tara areas were found to be the prime tobacco areas with high incidences of children working in tobacco farms," he said. Simulilika said the survey also revealed that the children performed hazardous tasks such as lifting heavy loads, spraying chemicals and working excessively long hours.

Jump to full article »

BOHLER-MULLER: No butts about smoking – past, present or future 

IRONICALLY on Freedom Day I came upon a newspaper cut-out of a letter to the editor of the Weekend Post penned on July 18, 1987, by my late father and journalist Harland Bohler, published under the pseudonym Smoker and titled “SAA ban on smoking a shameful act”.

The letter lambastes SAA for banning passengers from smoking on domestic flights and expands its field of protest from the over-regulation of smoking to incorporate such unlikely bedfellows as road-deaths, sex, alcohol abuse, pollution and apartheid.

“Smoker” may have been the first to complain about SAA’s “arbitrary action”, but the airline was by no means the first to object to “those gentle people who enjoy a dash of nicotine in the bloodstream”.

In 1604 Scotland’s King James VI in A Counterblaste to Tobacco wrote: . . .

My father concluded by reminding the “anti-smoking brigade that it is legal to smoke”. On September 28, 2000, that changed and many aspects of smoking were, in fact, criminalised. . . .

While the negative health impacts of tobacco and secondary smoke are undeniable, it is worth considering whether the criminalisation of smoking has achieved its goal.

Statistics published by the Health System Trust (www.hst.org.za) indicate smoking has increased amongst men from 24 per cent of the population (1998) to 34,3% (2002).

The Bill tends to be over-regulating and paternalistic. . . .

Where are the empathic measures to assist those who puff away to deal with the withdrawal symptoms? . . .

Should the new Bill prove to be a success and given the court backlog, cost of prosecution of offenders and the loss of the cash-cow of sin tax, one wonders whether the response to the health department should not be “physician heal thyself” and the investment in overzealous legislation would not be better spent on anti-retroviral drugs, tuberculosis medication and primary health care.

Jump to full article »

BAT Reports 6% Growth in Profits 

THE British American Tobacco (BAT) group has reported a six per cent growth in profits from operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2006.

But according to BAT group chairman Jan du Plessis, operating profit would have been 17 per cent higher, or eight per cent, at constant rates of exchange if exceptional items were excluded.

The group's impressive performance has been attributed to increasing consumption of its products in Africa and Asia, ironically the main victims of its cost-cutting drive.

BAT has announced the closure of a number of factories worldwide, including in Zambia, besides the eight that have been closed since 2004.

Jump to full article »

Smoke and mirrors 

TOBACCO companies are no longer permitted to advertise their wares which is all in the name of better health. Notices on cigarette packs tell us that smoking is addictive; smoking during pregnancy can endanger the health of your unborn child and so on.

Yet many choose to ignore the warnings.

The ban on advertising has reduced consumption but tobacco companies have found other ways to get their message across.

Formula One motor racing was one until very recently. The noose, however, is tightening and while hardened smokers continue to puff away at their favourite brand, first- timers are thinking twice before getting hooked. Habit it is, and addictive too. . . .

One of my smoking colleagues showed me a pack of ciggies recently clearly aimed at young women. . . .

Cigarettes in my day were for smoking, not a fashion accessory. It’s a bit like the latest cellphone craze that tells all around you that you’re with it or you’re not.

So if you can’t put up billboards and take half-page advertisements in newspapers, fill cinema screens with beautiful people puffing away on yachts moored off idyllic islands, then you try some other marketing trick – make it “fashionable” to smoke your brand. I’m sure it works.

Jump to full article »