Research and Markets: Analyzing the Tobacco Industry in Mexico

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Witnessing strong growth in recent years, the Mexican tobacco industry is expected to witness a slowdown in the coming five years. The Mexican tobacco industry is led by the sales of cigarettes, followed by loose tobacco. Cigars and chewing tobacco do not have much of a market share in the industry. With the Mexican market expected to slowdown in the next five years, players are gearing up to boost sales with new marketing strategies to combat the strict regulations governing the market.

The report is an in-depth profile of the tobacco industry in Mexico as well as the global tobacco industry, along with a complete analysis of the major players in the industry. For the global tobacco industry the report analyzes the industry through an industry definition, industry overview wherein it looks at the market statistics, an industry value analysis, industry segmentation, regional share of the industry, industry distribution, along with an analysis of the competition in the industry and company market share. Future of the global tobacco industry is also analyzed.

For the Mexican tobacco industry, the report analyzes the tobacco market through an industry overview, industry value analysis, industry segmentation, regional share analysis, industry distribution, market competition, major players in the market and their market share, as well as an analysis of the future of the tobacco market in Mexico. With tobacco being one of the most commonly used addictive substances in the world, the industry will continue to grow in the coming years, though the growth is going to be faced with many challenges as countries put in place stringent laws to combat the health effects of consuming tobacco. Major players in the Mexican tobacco industry are analyzed through a company overview, business segment analysis, financial analysis, and a SWOT analysis.

State resolution pits smokeless tobacco against cigarettes

Topeka- House Resolution 6026 was debated by the Federal State Affairs Committee of the Kansas House on Tuesday. The resolution would require the Kansas Department of Health and Education to study tobacco harm reduction. The maker of one of the largest tobacco companies, R.J. Reynolds, is encouraging the state based study and told the Huffington Post that the company has scientific evidence that chewing tobacco is less harmful than cigarettes.

Those who oppose the resolution say it promotes tobacco usage by the state. An American Cancer Society spokesperson also told the Huffington Post that the state doesn’t need to encourage people to trade one carcinogen for another. The committee will discuss the issue further on Wednesday.

Candy Shop Removes US Candy Cigarettes From Stores

Candies are kids' favorite and they love to have them all the time. Recently, a sweet shop chain in Auckland removed all the candies similar to American lolly cigarettes in looks after they were criticized by the public. The people are really against such products and want a candy shop to just close them immediately. Ms. Babi Burdett, the Director of the food chain, told that they immediately stopped selling American products, as they didn't wanted to offend the general public. It was not in their company's culture to offend people.

They wanted to retain public's love for their products. A report was published against the sore that it was selling candies, which looked similar to cigarettes. The stocking candy sticks looked similar to hand rolled cigarettes and chewing gums with a wrapping, which made them look just like a cigarette. After the newspaper reported such a thing the food chain director immidiately reacted and told that their food chain will stop making such candies. She also ordered to take five different types of look-alike lolly cigarettes off from the shelves of store as they were packed in packing similar to cigarettes.

He immediately ordered the staff to take them off as even they could have been questioned. Ms. Burdett also told that despite the American lollies are being removed from the counter the New Zealand ones are still being kept in store at Mt Eden and Devonport. They want to sell the spaceman candies, as a lot of kids love them. She added, "They are readily available everywhere, in The Warehouse, dairies, superettes. I don't see any reason to remove those", he said. The chain wanted to apologies publicly and they have that also. These comments from her side have also told that cigarette lollies should be banned all over and a bill should be passed for the same.

Argument over cigarettes led to fatal shooting in Justice

A Justice woman has been charged with first-degree murder for shooting her neighbor after they argued about who would pay for cigarettes, police said Monday. Her attorney said in court Sunday the woman acted in self-defense. Janine Brown, 33, and her neighbor, Anthony Kingyon, 47, were looking to buy cigarettes Friday when the argument erupted, police said.

 The fight turned physical, and Brown retrieved a .32-caliber handgun from her home, authorities said. Brown fired multiple shots at Kingyon, who was fatally hit in the chest just yards from their homes in the 8600 block of South 88th Avenue, police said. Kingyon was pronounced dead at 12:09 p.m. at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

 Prosecutors on Sunday said Kingyon was searching for keys when Brown returned and shot him. Brown, a nurse, was ordered held on $800,000 bail. Her attorney insisted in court Sunday that Brown was defending herself after Kingyon punched her and broke her glasses, pointing out bruises on Brown’s face for which he said Kingyon was responsible.

Cigarette maker Lorillard 1Q profit falls

Cigarette maker Lorillard Inc. said Wednesday its net income fell 10 percent in the first quarter as higher prices couldn't offset a decline in the number of cigarettes sold. The nation's third-biggest tobacco company also announced that it has acquired electronic cigarette maker Blu Ecigs for $135 million, part of an industrywide push to diversify beyond the traditional cigarette business. Lorillard, based in Greensboro, N.C., earned $223 million, or $1.70 per share, for the period ended March 31, down from $248 million, or $1.71 per share, a year ago. A 10-percent drop in the number of outstanding shares helped buoy the per-share results for the recent quarter.

Adjusted earnings were $1.74 per share. Revenue excluding excise taxes was essentially flat at $1.06 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet, on average, were expecting earnings of $1.99 per share on revenue of $1.13 billion. The company's fundamental performance remained strong, although it was masked by "significant changes in wholesale inventory," CEO Murray Kessler said in a conference call. Lorillard said the number of cigarettes it sold fell about 3 percent to 9.44 billion cigarettes. Newport, its biggest brand, fell 4 percent, while low-priced Maverick cigarettes rose about 10 percent. The company estimates that the industry as a whole sold about 4 percent fewer cigarettes during the quarter. High unemployment and rising cigarette prices and taxes have caused many smokers to smoke less and trade down to cheaper brands during the recession in a bid to save money. Lorillard's Maverick and Reynolds American Inc.'s Pall Mall brands have been among the beneficiaries.

 Lorillard's retail market share increased 0.4 points during the quarter to an all-time high of 14.5 percent of the U.S. market. Newport's share of the menthol market grew 0.5 points to 36.8 percent, while its top competitors have ramped up efforts to grab some of the growing menthol market. The company said promotion of non-menthol Newports, the Maverick brand's growth and Newport's geographic expansion drove market share gains. Most tobacco companies have been raising prices and cutting costs to keep profits up as the recession and declining demand cut into cigarette sales. Tax increases, smoking bans, health concerns and social stigma also have made the cigarette business tougher.

 With Wednesday's announcement of its acquisition of Blu Ecigs, Lorillard joins several other tobacco companies that have announced similar initiatives to seek cigarette alternatives as demand declines. Lorillard said Blu Ecigs, based in Charlotte, N.C., will remain a separate operating company. Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered plastic and metal devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution in a disposable cartridge, creating vapor that users inhale. Users call the practice "vaping" rather than smoking. Some e-cigarettes are made to look like a real cigarette with a tiny light on the tip that glows like the real thing. E-cigarettes devotees tout them as a way to break addiction to real cigarettes.

They insist the devices address both the nicotine addiction and the behavioral aspects of smoking - the holding of the cigarette, the puffing, exhaling something that looks like smoke and the hand motion - without the more than 4,000 chemicals found in cigarettes. Kessler said Blu Ecigs are "the perfect adjacency for us to participate in the smokeless market, but in a Lorillard way."

 The company also said it completed its $750 million share buyback during the quarter, repurchasing about 1.6 million shares at a cost of $188 million. Reynolds American, the nation's second-biggest tobacco company and maker of Camel, Pall Mall and Natural American Spirit brand cigarettes, said Tuesday its first-quarter profit fell 29 percent as restructuring charges and a 5 percent decline in the number of cigarettes sold more than offset the effect of higher prices and productivity improvements. Altria Group Inc., owner of the nation's largest tobacco company, Marlboro maker Philip Morris USA, is set to report Thursday.

Imperial Tobacco workers revolt over Nottingham Workplace Parking Levy

Employees at Imperial Tobacco in Nottingham have commenced taking industrial action against the company’s decision to pass on the cost of the city council’s workplace parking levy. According to union GMB, the action comprises an overtime ban that began at midnight on 30 April and will last a week, followed by an indefinite work-to-rule action where employees will only carry out the minimum amount of work required of them. GMB claimed that Imperial intends to pass on the annual £192 plus VAT charge to employees.

However, the firm said that it will only pass on £120, which would be tax-free for staff and equate to a net annual cost of around £80 per person, or £1.50 a week. Imperial also stated that employees willing to participate in one voluntary day of training relevant to the business or a day’s work for a registered charity of their choice would be exempt from the charge. But GMB regional officer Chris Needham responded that while employees had been asked to do 20 hours of voluntary work in exchange for payment of the WPL, it wasn’t worth the equivalent time in pay.

Imperial claimed the action would have “limited impact on operations”, but Needham countered: “Imperial works on the goodwill of our members. They’re losing the usual flexibility and that will impinge on the company. "When you’ve got a CEO who brags he could pay his employees 10 times as much then you can see the ilk of the people we’re dealing with.”

Group takes aim at tobacco sales to youth in Pawtucket, North Providence

Like a popular clothing store might draw young people in with the lights and music that most appeal to them, tobacco companies are increasingly producing products that entice youths to buy them, says the head of a new project to reduce tobacco use among children. Gone are the days when colorful posters depicting young people finding fulfillment in a cigarette were commonplace, according to Jeff Gale, coordinator for the International Institute Rhode Island Tobacco Control Program.

Nicotine marketing has gone into stealth mode, said Gale, with a bevy of newer products that by their very look appeal to young people. Gale and the IIRI Tobacco Control Program are working with municipal leaders, school officials and civic groups in both Pawtucket and North Providence to drum up support for making it more difficult to target youths with tobacco and nicotine products that often look, feel and taste like candy. In February of this year, the IIRI Tobacco Control Program won approximately $40,000 in annual funding from the Rhode Island Department of Health to reduce tobacco use among teens in Pawtucket and North Providence.

 Gale is working with groups like the Pawtucket Substance Abuse Task Force and its program director, Diane Dufresne, to get two ordinances passed locally to help them toward their goal of keeping tobacco out of the hands of youths and to improve the health of Rhode Islanders. The two ordinances would require: * The implementation of retailer licensing fees that would be dedicated in total or in part to the enforcement of tobacco laws; * Restrictions on the display and sale of tobacco-related products, requiring tobacco retailers to reduce physical and visual access of tobacco products to underage customers. This ordinance would require that products be moved from the front of the counter, near the candy items, to the back.

 While North Providence already has an ordinance requiring tobacco products to be moved back behind the counter, said Gale, he is encouraging officials there to update the law "to reflect new emerging tobacco products." Pawtucket City Councilor Mark Wildenhain has offered early support for a new ordinance that would tighten restrictions on tobacco sales in Pawtucket, said Gale. The new rules would go before the council's substance abuse subcommittee and then to the ordinance committee. City Councilor Albert Vitali Jr. told The Breeze that Gale and others have won support from a number of members like himself who want to see nicotine use among local teens curtailed.

 Pawtucket has more than double the population of North Providence, at more than 70,000, according to Gale, and more than double the number of convenience stores, with 88 total compared to 35 in North Providence. To this point, said Gale, he has had much better luck reaching Pawtucket municipal leaders than school officials to gain support for his tobacco prevention efforts, while in North Providence, school leaders have been the more supportive to this point. As nicotine users die off or stop using, said Gale, tobacco companies are left with little choice but to package their products in new ways to maintain profitability. Many of the newer items have higher levels of nicotine than a common cigarette, he said, and much lower taxes than their smellier counterparts. Many young people are first tempted to smoke or use other nicotine products in middle school, said Gale, and once they use them a few times, more often than not, they become loyal customers for years to come.

 Items like "orbs," which "look amazingly like breath mints," "sticks" and "strips," offer nicotine in innocent-looking new packaging, said Gale. Many products are made using finely ground flavored tobacco and a high volume of addictive nicotine. "They (the tobacco companies) went from 'smoking is cool, be hip,' to 'here's your nicotine, we know you need your fix,'" Gale told The Breeze. Newer dissolvable nicotine products allow students to get their nicotine fix in class, said Gale, without the need to spit as with old-school chew. Despite laws in place banning sales of nicotine products to young people, said Gale, more than 2 million packs of cigarettes are bought or smoked by minors in Rhode Island each year, according to a March 2012 report from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.