TI EDITORIAL
PUBLISHER & PRESIDENT
Robert M. Lockwood EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
On the EU, NGPs and Year Round Cover Crops
Christopher Bickers PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
or better or worse, the European Union has been much in the spotlight recently, and tobacco has certainly been partly in the glare. Regular Correspondent Iqbal Lampat describes on page 20 how the current position of most EU tobacco markets has been one of austerity. But there is a large disparity in retail cigarette pricing from one market to another, and it is becoming a problem. One of the EU’s biggest naysayers has got to be Britain’s Minister Boris Johnson. But on the bright side, he has been adamant in his opposition to increased tobacco taxes, saying he’s not interested in taxing poorer people on one of their relatively few pleasures, writes our London Correspondent Bob Crew, starting on page 16. One never knows how something like this is going to turn out, Bob speculates, but chances are that if and/or when he wins the next election, he will have a more lenient policy than before with regard to tobacco and cigarette companies. There is no doubt that the prospects for “Next Generation Products” have taken a downward turn. Richard Hill, Group Commercial Director for Vapor for Imperial Brands, explains on page 26 why the situation is deteriorating and manufacturers of NGPs are facing a crossroads. “We have one route, one opportunity, to potentially make a positive impact on public health, globally,” he says. See “The Next Generation Products crossroads, and why we must find a way to cross it.” And following Hill’s piece, you will be interested in the Imperial Brands proposes a 13-point belief system to advance next generation products and ensure consumer safety (page 28). In our last issue, we told you how the Tobacco Board of India has been using traditional agronomic techniques to develop lower “tech” but more productive methods to grow tobacco. Well, there is still more of that story to tell, and starting on page 34, Sunitha Kolaventy, Executive Director of the Indian Tobacco Board, tells a little more of it. One promising technique they’ve found: Keeping green cover crops on tobacco land year round. Here in the leaf-growing area of the United States, the news in early fall has been pretty dreary. The auction market for flue-cured tobacco (the first type to go on sale here) has been characterized by much lower prices than a year ago, and farmers are asking themselves if there will ever be any improvement. There have been a number of factors, but the loss of the China export market has to be number one. See Leaf News, page 36.
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CONTRIBUTORS INTERNATIONAL TOBACCO
Dr. Iqbal Lambat (ISTANBUL,
TURKEY)
ECONOMIC COLUMNIST
John Parker (RICHMOND,
VIRGINIA)
REGIONAL
Mumtaz Ahmad (ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN) Diamantis Chras (PIRAEUS, GREECE) Bob Crew (LONDON, ENGLAND) Eugene Gerden (MOSCOW, RUSSIA) Guido Jungbluth (SANTA CRUZ DO SUL, BRAZIL) Manfred Körner (HAMBURG, GERMANY) M. Rifaat Naguib (CAIRO, EGYPT) Vladislav Vorotnikov (MOSCOW, RUSSIA)
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— Christopher Bickers, Editor-In-Chief
Volume 19, No. 7 TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL (ISSN 0049-3945 print; ISSN 2331-8481 online), established in 1886, is published six times a year, with two monthly issues (September & December) and four combined issues (January/February/March, April/May/June, July/August, October/November) plus a directory issue published in January of each year by Lockwood Trade Journal Co., Inc., 3743 Crescent Street, Second Floor, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA. Officers: Robert M. Lockwood, president and treasurer. Subscription rates: USA—US$49 per year, US$74 for two years; US$109 for three years. Canada—US$59 per year, US$89 for two years, US$134 for three years. All other countries: International Surface Mail—US$89 per year; US$139 for two years; US$199 for three years. International AirMail—US$129 per year; US$199 for two years; US$289 for three years. Single copy price: US$15. Annual Buyers’ Guide & Directory: US$45, plus shipping. Copyright ©2019 by Lockwood Publications, Inc. The contents of TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL may not be reprinted except by permission. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL, 3743 Crescent Street, 2nd Floor, Long Island City, New York 11101, USA.
8 TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019
