RUSSIA--SECOND LARGEST 'SMOKERSLAND' OF THE WORLD
* Russia is the second largest tobacco market in the world.
* Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in a video blog on Tuesday that 44 million Russians, nearly one in three, were hooked on smoking.
* According to Medvedev’s message, Russia has the highest percentage of smokers in the world.
* From 1992, the percentage of female smokers tripled from 7 to 22 per cent.
* The average age that Russian children begin smoking decreased from age 15 to age 11, Medvedev said.
* Almost 400,000 die every year of smoking-related causes.
* "Every year (the equivalent of) a large city disappears," Medvedev said.
* The habit of lighting up in Russia, where the air in bars, coffee shops and stairwells is thick with smoke, is encouraged by the cheap price of cigarettes. A pack typically costs around 50-60 roubles (less than $2).
* While President Vladimir Putin is a non-smoker and has reprimanded ministers for smoking, some other top officials, such as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, are heavy smokers.
* The government hopes the legislation will help improve life expectancy, which at 62 for men and 74 for women in 2009, remains low by the standards of other middle-income countries.
* The Russian cigarette market, estimated to be worth around $22 billion in 2011 by Euromonitor International, is a significant part of overseas tobacco companies' businesses.
* Four foreign tobacco companies - Japan Tobacco International, Phillip Morris, British American Tobacco, and Imperial Tobacco - control more than 90 percent of Russian sales and have been lobbying to soften the proposed legislation.
* Russia's Finance Ministry has previously announced plans to increase the excise duty on tobacco by around 40 percent for 2013 and 2014 and said on Tuesday it plans to hike taxes by 10 percent a year after 2015. The Health Ministry supports a greater increase in duty.
* The bill would probably become law next spring if submitted to parliament by November 1, Nikolai Gerasimenko, deputy chairman of the State Duma's health committee, was quoted by the state-run Itar-Tass news agency as saying.
* The proposed legislation follows in the footsteps of other countries, mostly in the West, who have imposed strict controls on the advertising and sales of cigarettes and banned smoking in public places.
* In an article following Medvedev’s announcement, Russian daily Vedomosti noted that just a year ago then-president Medvedev awarded a state decoration to Pierre de Labouchere, the chief executive of Japan Tobacco, lauding him as a foreign citizen who had helped build “friendship and cooperation with Russia”.
LINK:
http://devilsmoke.blogspot.in/2012/10/russia-second-largest-tobacco-market.html
* Russia is the second largest tobacco market in the world.
* Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in a video blog on Tuesday that 44 million Russians, nearly one in three, were hooked on smoking.
* According to Medvedev’s message, Russia has the highest percentage of smokers in the world.
* From 1992, the percentage of female smokers tripled from 7 to 22 per cent.
* The average age that Russian children begin smoking decreased from age 15 to age 11, Medvedev said.
* Almost 400,000 die every year of smoking-related causes.
* "Every year (the equivalent of) a large city disappears," Medvedev said.
* The habit of lighting up in Russia, where the air in bars, coffee shops and stairwells is thick with smoke, is encouraged by the cheap price of cigarettes. A pack typically costs around 50-60 roubles (less than $2).
* While President Vladimir Putin is a non-smoker and has reprimanded ministers for smoking, some other top officials, such as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, are heavy smokers.
* The government hopes the legislation will help improve life expectancy, which at 62 for men and 74 for women in 2009, remains low by the standards of other middle-income countries.
* The Russian cigarette market, estimated to be worth around $22 billion in 2011 by Euromonitor International, is a significant part of overseas tobacco companies' businesses.
* Four foreign tobacco companies - Japan Tobacco International, Phillip Morris, British American Tobacco, and Imperial Tobacco - control more than 90 percent of Russian sales and have been lobbying to soften the proposed legislation.
* Russia's Finance Ministry has previously announced plans to increase the excise duty on tobacco by around 40 percent for 2013 and 2014 and said on Tuesday it plans to hike taxes by 10 percent a year after 2015. The Health Ministry supports a greater increase in duty.
* The bill would probably become law next spring if submitted to parliament by November 1, Nikolai Gerasimenko, deputy chairman of the State Duma's health committee, was quoted by the state-run Itar-Tass news agency as saying.
* The proposed legislation follows in the footsteps of other countries, mostly in the West, who have imposed strict controls on the advertising and sales of cigarettes and banned smoking in public places.
* In an article following Medvedev’s announcement, Russian daily Vedomosti noted that just a year ago then-president Medvedev awarded a state decoration to Pierre de Labouchere, the chief executive of Japan Tobacco, lauding him as a foreign citizen who had helped build “friendship and cooperation with Russia”.
LINK:
http://devilsmoke.blogspot.in/2012/10/russia-second-largest-tobacco-market.html
