Philip Morris plans to launch heated tobacco device in Pakistan

Philip Morris Limited, plans to launch its new heated tobacco cigarettes in Pakistan. The company's new product, will be introduced in the market in Pakistan if the government allows it and passes the required legislation. The product is already available in more than 70 countries.[1]. Like other countries, the general manager of PMI Pakistan, Roman Yazbeck, is developing an argument tending to present the new product as the reference in terms of risk reduction and is asking for relaxations in terms of taxation and other regulations. Thus, he holds the speech intended to be "in favor" of public health, affirming that the promotion of low-risk products has become the top priority of his company. In this regard, more than 7 billion dollars have been invested over the last 10 years in order to find products with less risk for consumers. The same Philip Morris manager contests the desire to reduce consumption through an energetic tax policy and he strongly opposes tax increases associating them with an increase and the importance of illicit trade in the country. The latter would represent 40% of sales in the country. In doing so, he fails to specify that the products found on contraband markets come from his own factories. Philip Morris considers that these 40% of illicit sales are the work of local manufacturers who do not manufacture products illegally but also sell at prices lower than those authorized. The manufacturer estimates the loss of revenue for the country at 40 to 45 billion rupees (from 490 million to 550 million euros). According to this manager, any increase in taxes would harm companies like Philip Morris. In this perspective, the launch of new products that cannot be competed with becomes an even more important issue for the cigarette manufacturer. These new products benefit from more favorable taxation and undeniable comparative advantages likely to attract new consumers given the rather expensive cost of the device itself. Thus, the fact that heated tobacco refills are not impacted by price increases can appeal to smokers more. As a reminder[2], every year, 160,000 Pakistanis die from tobacco-related diseases. Tobacco use continues to grow in the country due to lack of awareness about its dangers, low prices, aggressive marketing by the tobacco industry and steady population growth. Increasing supply with the introduction of a new tobacco product is likely to increase demand and strengthen the power of the tobacco industry as the already significant normalization of tobacco continues in the country.©Tobacco Free Generation

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[1] https://www.pmi.com/markets[2] https://www.generationsanstabac.org/actualites/quand-les-industries-du-tabac-deteriorent-le-systeme-de-sante-pakistanais/