Smoking in China
In China, smoking and the sale of cigarettes is legally allowed, and they can be purchased online, but buying them from vending machines is not permitted. Importing cigarettes for trade is allowed with a license. However, there is a complete ban on all tobacco advertising, and health warnings on cigarette packaging are required. The minimum legal age for purchasing cigarettes is 18 years, and there are legal restrictions on smoking in public places as well. Cigarettes are subject to a total taxation rate of 52% with a specific excise component of 0.98%. As of 2024, China had an estimated 288.3 million current adult smokers, with an adult smoking prevalence of 24.4%. Among males, the smoking prevalence was 46.4%, and among females, it was only 1.9%. The number of daily smokers was approximately 256.9 million, with an adult daily smoking prevalence of 20.3%—38.6% among males and 1.3% among females. According to 2021 data, tobacco smoking caused about 2.7 million deaths in China—2.2 million among males and 490,700 among females. This presents that smoking accounted for 22.78% of all deaths in the country, including 31.81% of male deaths and 10.11% of female deaths.
Read articles from China
June 21, 2022 by tobaccoreporter.com
Flow Stops Sales of Flavored Vapes in China
E-cigarette manufacturer Flow will stop producing non-tobacco flavored e-liquid cartridges for the Chinese market to comply with new regulations, reports Pandaily.
In November 2021, the Chinese government granted the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration jurisdiction over the vapor business. Since then, authorities have published a series of new rules. Among other things, e-cigarette manufacturers must sell their products through authorized channels. Retailers, meanwhile, are required to buy all vapor products through a “unified platform” and restrict the liquids sold on the Chinese market to tobacco flavors.
June 21, 2022 by pandaily.com
China’s E-Cigarette Institution Expects Exports of E-Cigarettes Reach $27.82B
The Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce released its Blue Book of Electronic Cigarette Exports on Tuesday. The report estimates that the country’s electronic cigarette exports will reach 186.7 billion yuan ($27.82 billion) this year, with exports of the first quarter already totaling 45.3 billion yuan.
According to the Blue Book, the exports of e-cigarettes in China was 138.3 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 180% year-on-year. Among the over 1,500 e-cigarette enterprises in China, more than 70% enterprises were export-oriented.
June 08, 2022 by natlawreview.com
Manufacturing E-Cigarettes in China: How to Obtain the Manufacturer License
Following China’s new GB standard on e-cigarettes that we summarized in early May 2022, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) has now published a rule outlining the process for Chinese e-cigarette manufacturers to obtain the required manufacturer license. This rule applies not only to manufacturers producing e-cigarettes for the domestic Chinese market, but also to the manufacturing of e-cigarettes solely for export. This article summarizes the major requirements for obtaining an e-cigarette manufacturer license in China. [...]
June 01, 2022 by globaltimes.cn
More Chinese students using e-cigarettes
Nearly 5 percent of Chinese students in middle schools have the habit of smoking and 3.6 percent of the group use e-cigarettes regularly, according to a survey conducted in 2021 by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China's CDC). The data was released on Tuesday, the World No Tobacco Day, along with other reports that demonstrate an increasing tendency of Chinese minors to use e-cigarettes.
The survey covered 270,000 students in middle schools and took back 124,119 questionnaires from college students in 31 province-level places in the Chinese mainland, according to the China's CDC.
May 30, 2022 by tobaccoreporter.com
Macau Mulls More E-Cigarette Restrictions
Macau’s executive council wants to ban the production, sale, distribution, import, export and transport of vapor products in the special administrative region (SAR), reports Macau Business.
Under changes proposed to the tobacco control law, violators would risk fines of MOP4,000 ($500).
The current law defines an e-cigarette as any product, or component thereof, that can be used to inhale vapor, with or without nicotine, by means of a mouthpiece, including a cartridge, a reservoir, as well as the device without a cartridge or reservoir.
May 30, 2022 by scmp.com
Hong Kong must sharply raise tobacco tax, consider ‘smoking’ permit to ensure reduction targets are hit, government advisers say
Bolder steps are needed to reach Hong Kong’s “endgame” of a 5 per cent smoking rate and a midway goal of 7.8 per cent by 2025, including raising the levy on tobacco products, government advisers have said.
Dr Daniel Ho Sai-yin, an associate professor of the University of Hong Kong’s school of public health, suggested doubling the tax on cigarette packs to HK$76 (US$9.70) each, which would push the retail price to roughly HK$97.
Ho is also a member of the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, which aims to educate the public and advise the government on the habit.
May 26, 2022 by scmp.com
Proportion of cigarette smokers in Hong Kong drops to new low of 9.5 per cent, but ‘significant’ increase in vaping
The proportion of Hong Kong residents who smoke cigarettes has fallen below double-digits for the first time, but vaping has jumped by nearly 150 per cent in the past two years, according to health officials.
Authorities on Thursday revealed the city’s latest smoking rate was at 9.5 per cent in 2021, dropping from 10.2 per cent in 2019. A target earlier set by the government aims to bring the rate down to 7.8 per cent by 2025.
“The [latest smoking rate] is a new low, and it is the first time we are seeing a single digit since records began,” Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said.
May 25, 2022 by hongkongfp.com
Hong Kong Customs seize HK$10 million worth of products since ban on e-cigarettes
Hong Kong Customs have seized HK$10 million worth of products since the ban on alternative smoking products, including e-cigarettes, took effect close to a month ago.
Divisional Commander of the Air Cargo Research Division Lie Yan-ning said on Tuesday that customs had dealt with 46 related cases since the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 was implemented on April 30. Around 360,000 products with an estimated market value of HK$10 million have been seized since the end of last month, and the customs arrested a man who was believed to be a driver.
May 18, 2022 by mdpi.com
Research on the Ecological Deconstruction of E-Cigarette Industrial Clusters in Shenzhen, China, and a Niche Analysis of Related Enterprises
As an emerging industry, e-cigarettes have been greatly prosperous globally in recent years. In China, Shenzhen is the center of e-cigarette production, and a complete business ecosystem has been built at this point. To explore the phenomenon of the agglomeration of e-cigarette enterprises in Shenzhen, the business ecosystem structure and evolution path of e-cigarette industrial clusters in Shenzhen [...] are illustrated in this study from an ecological perspective, and the development characteristics of the Shenzhen e-cigarette industry as well as the interspecies relationships among enterprises were studied based on the population life history theory.
May 11, 2022 by natlawreview.com
China Publishes Final GB Standard on E-Cigarettes: The Basis for Product Compliance
Since we reported in December 2021 on some significant developments in China’s regulation of e-cigarettes (including the draft national standard on e-cigarettes) as well as in March 2022 on the finalized Management Rules for E-Cigarettes, China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA), also referred to as China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), has not only released the national Standard GB 41700-2022 on Electronic Cigarettes but also published further regulations detailing the procedure and requirements for licensing, technical review, etc. In the coming weeks, we will publish a series of articles summarizing these new regulations. [...]