The tobacco industry of southwest China's tobacco-producing Yunnan Province held in Yuxi City of Yunnan on June 12 a symposium on the development of competitive cigarette brands and joint-venture cigarette production, unveiling ambitious targets for brands development and joint-venture production over the next few years.
Deputy Director-General He Zehua of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) and Deputy Chairman Cheng Yingxuan of the Standing Committee of Yunnan Provincial People's Congress attended the meeting and made important speeches.
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Attending the meeting were more than 300 dignitaries including leaders of the STMA's Development Planning Department and Economic Operation Department, China National Cigarette Sales Corporation, China National Leaf Tobacco Corporation, Tobacco Business Logistics Company, Tobacco Industry Development Center and other relevant departments of the STMA, General Manager Zhu Shaoming and Board of Directors Chairman Liu Wandong of China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co., Ltd., Communist Party and government leaders of Yuxi City, leaders of provincial-level commercial enterprises of the tobacco industry, leaders of the commercial enterprises of the tobacco industry in the 36 key cities designated by the STMA and also their sales departments, leaders of some China Tobacco provincial industrial companies, leaders of the relevant departments of China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co., Ltd., and leaders of Hongta Group and HongyunHonghe Tobacco Group in Yunnan.
After hearing reports on the work of brands development and joint-venture cigarette production given by General Manager Zhu Shaoming of China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co., Ltd. and leaders of Hongta Group and HongyunHonghe Tobacco Group, He Zehua pointed out that over recent years, China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co., Ltd. has had outstanding performance in the process of promoting cigarette development and production in China to higher levels, showing robust development. In particular, the debut of Yuxi (Manor) and Yunyan (Dachongjiu) has contributed to solving a problem in the drive to lead the tobacco industry of Yunnan to develop and produce cigarettes of high-end brands.
In light of future development of competitive cigarette brands of Yunnan, He Zehua said that the tobacco industry of Yunnan needs to attach importance to the image of its brands and improvement of the structure of brands, and maintain the trend of seeking progress amid stability.
For the Yuxi cigarette brand family, it needs to go upward. The presentation of Yuxi (Manor) has led to the realization of breakthrough in the development of high-end cigarette products of Yuxi. In a next period of time, efforts should be made to enlarge the annual production capacity of Yuxi (Manor) and turn it more competitive. What is crucial in this endeavor will be to make it more powerful, he said.
For the Hongtashan cigarette brand family, efforts should be made to further improve its structure, renew its image and realize reestablishment of its value. For the time being, efforts should be adopted to make the "Classic" series of Hongtashan more stable and more powerful, and well develop the "New Series" and "International" series, in order that "Classic" and "Fashion" will each bring out the best in the other, according to He Zehua.
The deputy STMA chief said that as the development of cigarette brands of Yunnan is closely related to the development of the tobacco industry of China as a whole, he hopes the manufacturing and commercial sectors of the tobacco industry in China will further deepen the coordination between them, and will attach greater importance and care to the development of cigarette brands of Yunnan, particularly Hongtashan Classic 100, in order to better promote the development of cigarette brands of Yunnan through concerted efforts.
In his speech delivered at the meeting, Cheng Yingxuan said that as the tobacco industry is the backbone industry of Yunnan, he hopes that the STMA will offer more policy guidance and support to the development of cigarette brands of Yunnan, and that the manufacturing and commercial sectors of the tobacco industries of other Chinese provinces and regions will continue to extend care and support to socioeconomic development in Yunnan as they have always done, in efforts to jointly establish a fine image of cigarette brands of Yunnan, and jointly usher in a new situation of promoting cigarette development and production in Yunnan to higher levels.
In a separate address delivered at the meeting, Zhu Shaoming said that in accordance with the "1+5" priority work planning of the STMA and the relevant work planning of the Chinese Communist Party Yunnan Provincial Committee and the provincial government of Yunnan, China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co., Ltd. has adjusted its plan for cigarette production development in the 2011-2015 five-year period, and has made clear the "5521" brands development target: By the end of the year 2015 or in a even longer period of time, the tobacco industry of Yunnan will strive to increase the annual output and sales volume of Hongtashan to 5 million cases (250 billion cigarettes), Yunyan 5 million cases (250 billion cigarettes), Yuxi 2 million cases (100 billion cigarettes) and Honghe 1 million cases (50 billion cigarettes), and increase the annual commercial wholesale income of Hongtashan to 110 billion yuan (17.5 billion U.S. dollars), Yunyan 160 billion yuan (25.4 billion U.S. dollars) and Yuxi 100 billion yuan (16 billion U.S. dollars), with the annual total output and sales volume of the four big brands combined reaching a high of 13 million cases (650 billion cigarettes), including 2 million cases (100 billion cigarettes) being products with a tar level of 8mg per cigarette or even lower, and with the total amount of taxes and profits generated by the tobacco industry of Yunnan within the home province along reaching a high of 120 billion yuan (19 billion U.S. dollars) or even higher. Enditem
