Monday 25 November 2013

Tobacco companies invade Myanmar market

Almost half of Myanmar's population of 60 million consumes tobacco in some form. Most people chew tobacco in betel leaves and smoke cheroots. Filtered cigarettes tend to be seen mainly in cities, Al Jazeera reports.

Tobacco is becoming a major problem in this impoverished Southeast Asian country. Its widespread use is combined with weak anti-tobacco legislation. After the fall of military rule in Myanmar large multinational cigarette companies, looking for new markets, are starting to invade it.

Some anti-tobacco activists say it's not just the nation's health that is at risk from the tobacco companies' new push, but also the rights of some of Myanmar's poorest people.

At the root of the problem lies a conflict of interest on a government level. The health ministry is trying to implement measures to reduce smoking, but the trade ministry wants to attract millions of dollars in potential foreign investment by multi-national companies, says Bungon Rithiphakdee, director of the Southeast Asian Tobacco Control Alliance.

About 45 percent of Myanmar's population is below the age of 24 - a prime target group for cigarette companies. Less than 10 percent of smokers use Western-style filtered cigarettes, and they are concentrated in the cities. Foreign companies see an opportunity to boost sales that are leveling off or dropping in more developed markets.

According to data of the World Health Organisation 20 percent of all deaths in the country are due to smoking. The cancer ward at the main hospital in Yangon, the biggest city in Myanmar, is usually crowded.

Cigarette sales are expected to grow at between 2-3 percent a year for the next four years, according to Shane MacGuill, a tobacco industry analyst at research firm Euromonitor.

British American Tobacco, the world's second-largest cigarette company, plans to invest $50m over the next five years, and employ about 400 people. Japan Tobacco International, which is number three globally, is also entering the country, but they declined further comment.

"Local cigarette firms are no match. Foreign tobacco companies will go into the region as quietly as possible and say to governments: 'We'll help with the manufacturing process ... provide jobs,'" warned Judith Mackay of the World Lung Foundation, which works to help treat diseases such as tuberculosis.

Myanmar has not implemented some of the WHO's guidelines involving smoking, such as pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs and a 65 percent tax levy. Smoking in public places has been banned since 2006, but the fines for breaking the law are minimal.

Tobacco companies in Myanmar get around direct advertising bans through their corporate social responsibility arms giving educational grants or sponsoring orphanages, say activists. And despite promises not to market to youth, cigarette companies regularly back entertainment events such as rock concerts and the annual water-throwing festival, giving out free packets to young people there.

Rehan Baig - managing Director of British American Tobacco Myanmar Ltd, in response to emailed questions about the company's marketing tactics - wrote that the company only targets adult tobacco consumers.

But young people are particularly susceptible to the slick marketing campaigns that only Big Tobacco can muster.

"Transnational tobacco companies in Myanmar bring with them a complete denial of the health evidence along with sophisticated marketing and sponsorship," the World Lung Foundation's Mackay said. "They're wolves in sheep's clothing."

Myanmar is already awash with imported foreign cigarette brands such as Camel and Benson & Hedges. But they are three times more expensive than local produce.

"If you open a factory in Myanmar, you can sell at a cheap price," making foreign brands more accessible to cost-and image-conscious consumers, said YarZar Nyunt of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.

"Corruption is a problem and the government is not that concerned with people's health. They first opened Myanmar to alcohol companies, and now tobacco firms," he adds.

source: STANDART News

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