Charles Turner The China National Tobacco Corporation has grown into the world’s biggest cigarette company by feeding the addiction of China’s approximately 300 million smokers. But now the state-owned giant is ready to take over the rest of the globe. Since jumping on China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” in 2015, CNTC brands have increasingly been […]
Category: China
Tribute to Anne Charlton: “A cure for crying”
Judith Mackay Dr Anne Charlton was Professor Emerita of Cancer Health Education at the University of Manchester in England. In April this year she became one of the thousands of coronavirus victims in the UK. At the venerable age of 84 years, she died from contracting the virus in hospital while undergoing orthopaedic surgery. Many heart-warming […]
China’s e-cigarette manufacturers facing uncertain future
Ross MacKenzie, Jennifer Fang and Julia Smith China’s electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) industry accounts for close to 90% of global production. Based in Shenzhen in Guangdong province, an estimated 3,900 manufacturers employed some 2 million people in 2018 and reported sales of 33.7bn yuan (US$ 4.8bn) and exports worth 28.7bn yuan (US$ 4bn). Figures for […]
World: Tribute to Professor Teh-wei Hu, health and tobacco control economist
Last month, the global tobacco control community lost one of its great intellects. Professor Teh-wei Hu passed away on 3 February 2020, following a short illness. Professor Hu was an economist whose expertise and accomplishments helped to establish tobacco taxes as one of the most effective measures to reduce smoking. In a career spanning 50 […]
China: CTI’s quiet expansion strategy should be a concern for global public health
Ross MacKenzie, Jennifer Fang, Julia Smith In July this year, China Tobacco International (CTI) Hong Kong, the international arm of the China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), launched into the stock market with an initial public offering (IPO). Outside of the financial media, the IPO attracted relatively little attention. However, the offering has implications far beyond […]
World: PMI-funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World adding insult to injury
Jennifer Fang and Kelley Lee Despite 7 million deaths annually and counting, tobacco control worldwide continues to be seriously underfunded as a public health priority. This funding gap is especially acute in low-income countries and among certain historically disadvantaged populations. It is into this space that the Philip Morris International (PMI) financed Foundation for a […]
China: Tobacco and Belt and Road Initiative – the new ‘Go Global’?
Jennifer Fang China National Tobacco Company (CNTC) is the world’s largest manufacturer of cigarettes, accounting for a third of the total global output. The powerful state-owned tobacco monopoly, previously focused on the vast domestic market with 350 million smokers, has been nurturing growing global ambitions since the early 2000s. Faced by an increasingly saturated domestic […]