China: STMA Holds Meeting on Planning for Development of Tobacco Industry

Source from:  TobaccoChina Online 11/21/2012

The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) held the 2012 annual national conference on planning for the development of China’s tobacco industry in Beijing on November 13-14, unveiling key points of planning for the development of the tobacco industry in 2013, further unifying understanding and urging full-scale efforts to promote implementation of various aspects of tobacco work.

The meeting also made in-depth analysis of the current situation faced by the tobacco industry in its development, and summed up results of implementation of the general planning for “promoting cigarette production and marketing to higher levels” and fulfillment of the development planning for the year 2012.

Director Qin Qianhao of the STMA’s Development Planning Department delivered an address entitled “Strengthening Macro Regulation and Control Over the National Tobacco Industry, and Making Management Strict and Regulated, in Striving to Promote the Work of Development Planning to Higher Levels”.

In the address, Qin introduced progress made in the implementation of the general planning for “promoting cigarette production and marketing to higher levels”. He pointed out that according to computation and estimation, the tobacco industry of China is expected to fulfill 76 percent of the targets of the current six-year general development planning within a period of three years ending in late December 2012.

Specific manifestations of fulfillment of the targets included relatively rapid development of key cigarette brands, firmer basis of guarantee for raw materials supply, stability of the total quantity of leaf tobacco production, structural improvement, remarkable achievements in technological innovation, obvious breakthrough in crucial technology, obvious promotion of marketing to higher levels, accelerated formation of a national single market, and full-scale strengthening of basic management, according to Qin.

However, there still existed some major problems in the implementation of the general development planning, including the trend of slowdown in the development of key cigarette brands of scale, weakness of the basis of brands of low-tar cigarettes, the necessary to further consolidate the basis of raw materials supply guarantee, and the necessary to further strengthen the work of technological innovation.

Presently, energy should be focused on accelerating efforts to strengthen the development and enlargement of well-known cigarette brands, vigorously promoting the development of low-tar cigarettes, striving to promote raw materials supply guarantee to higher levels, actively executing major exclusive projects, striving to solve bottleneck problems faced by the tobacco industry in the development of science and technology, and further promoting cigarette production and marketing to higher levels, Qin said. Enditem