In China, tobacco industry and social habits are holding back smoking reduction

Very socially integrated and still highly valued, smoking is not declining much in China where it remains the norm, and is maintained by the state monopoly.

Despite signing and ratifying the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2005, China remains the world's largest producer and consumer of tobacco, and smoking is declining more slowly than elsewhere. China's 300 million smokers represent nearly a third of the world's smokers, and consume 99% of its tobacco production. The reasons for this persistence seem to be as much cultural as economic.[1].

A strong cultural anchor in China

Appearing in the 1930s, smoking spread in China especially after 1949 and the establishment of the People's Republic. It was very present in the iconography of the country's great leaders, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping being often represented with cigarettes in their hands. The current president Xi Jinping himself is said to have smoked until the age of 40, before banning smoking in public buildings.

At weddings, cigarettes are offered on trays, and offering cartons of cigarettes remains a common occupational practice. Today, more than half of Chinese men are smokers, and more than a million deaths each year are attributable to tobacco.

This pro-tobacco culture, relayed by a intense marketing manufacturers on social networks, has, in parallel, promoted the rapid development of the electronic cigarette market. This sector has seen itself regulated in October 2022, with the ban on flavors in e-liquids, stocks of flavored e-liquids will however continue to be sold online or under the counter.

A market under state control

Tobacco sales are ubiquitous, and cigarette packs often feature national symbols, such as the panda or the former imperial residence of Zhongnaihai. Cigarette prices range from 10 to 200 yuan (1.30 to 26 euros), but tobacco remains generally very affordable. Revenue from tobacco sales taxes accounts for 11,% of government revenue.

In China, since 1980, the tobacco market has been controlled and regulated by a public body, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA). Tobacco sales are carried out by the China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), a public company which holds 98,133 market shares in the country. Internationally, sales are handled by China Tobacco International (CTI) and its various subsidiaries. Employing more than 500,000 people, the tobacco sector is all the more valued as salaries are very attractive. Working there is prestigious.

The country's largest taxpayer in terms of taxes, far ahead of the leading banking operator, the CNTC has been involved in a corruption scandal since 2021, with two dozen of its executives arrested for this reason.

Obstacles to tobacco control

Despite a stated desire to combat smoking, there are no national regulations on the subject. While laws protecting against exposure to cigarette smoke exist in the country's main cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen), they are rarer in other regions and generally seem to be poorly respected. Similarly, laws prohibiting vaping in public places also remain a dead letter.

In November 2014, the State Council outlined a national tobacco control plan to fulfill China's obligations under the FCTC. However, the plan was stalled in its approval process and remained in draft form. Dr. Gan Quan, director of the China branch of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, believes that the STMA is primarily responsible for this inertia: "It's often the same pattern; when a local jurisdiction tries to pass non-smoking laws, the STMA follows the files and exerts pressure, because it doesn't want this dynamic coming from big cities like Beijing or Shanghai to spread."

While health professionals point to the responsibility of the state monopoly in this situation and recommend putting an end to it, Dr. Gan believes that the Chinese authorities are not interested in this idea, for reasons both economic and political will. China therefore does not yet seem ready to live in a world without tobacco, which would require significant work to inform the public and denormalize tobacco.

Keywords: China, consumption, tobacco market, tobacco control, SMTA, CNTC.

M.F.

[1] Law E, 300 million smokers and counting: Why China just can't kick its cigarette habit, The Straits Times, published 28 August 2023, accessed 29 August 2023.