China ups its tobacco monopoly
Share Now on:
China ups its tobacco monopoly
TEXT OF STORY
SCOTT JAGOW: Today is World No Tobacco day. While smoking’s on the decline in the U.S., China is still puffing away madly. But as Jocelyn Ford reports, that doesn’t mean foreign tobacco companies are making a fortune there.
JOCELYN FORD: China is home to about one out of three smokers worldwide, but it’s been a tough market for multinationals. They account for only three percent of cigarettes sold here.
That’s not because the government is eager to protect its citizens from the hazards of smoking. It’s because China is eager to protect its own tobacco industry which is a state monopoly.
China’s tobacco industry accounts for about 10 percent of total government revenue. Anti-monopoly researcher Zhou Yangming.
[ Zhou Yangming commenting in Chinese ]
Zhou says in some places the local authorities require government institutions to buy local cigarettes, for example for entertaining visitors.
China announced earlier this year it won’t allow foreign companies to build new cigarette factories or enter joint ventures.
In Beijing, I’m Jocelyn Ford for Marketplace.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
