Tobacco.org

SOUTH AFRICA-TOCACCO PRICES STILL GOOD. 

Despite global upheavals 2008 ended with excellent results for tobacco, rounding off a decade of value creation with a total shareholder return of 486%, according to the British American Tobacco (BAT) group. Developing markets in Eastern Europe and East Asia are expanding and the group expects the profit pool to grow.

Even allowing for an average per capita decline in tobacco consumption of 1% per year, adult population growth could see the world’s smokers increase to 1,5 billion by 2050.

Last year, the BAT group alone bought 380 000t of tobacco leaf, mostly from farmers and suppliers in emerging economies where the crop is said to be more profitable than maize and cotton. BAT’s social responsibility programme, which addresses issues such as leaf growing, processing, health, and the environment, reaches 300 000 such producers across the globe. According to the Tobacco Institute of South Africa, international demand for cigarette tobacco was expected to exceed supply by the end of 2008. . . .

Parties to the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control regularly revise guidelines for governments on tobacco policies, including bans on advertising and the use of plain tobacco packaging. But BAT believes the industry should be drawn into the regulatory process to prevent impractical legislation.

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