RI Concerned About Possible Ban on Clove-Flavored Cigarettes in US

Source from:  Jakarta (ANTARA News) 09/18/07 09/19/2007

Indonesia is concerned about a United States plan to ban the circulation of "kretek" (clove-flavored) cigarettes as contained in a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bill because the US is one of the destinations of Indonesia`s kretek cigarette exports, an Industry Ministry official said. "Although it is still only a plan, we must from now on proactively conduct a lobby," to prevent the plan from being implemented, Imam Haryono, the ministry`s director of food and tobacco industries, said here Monday. He said Indonesian kretek cigarette exports to the US reached a total value of US$20 million and accounted for 0.1 percent of cigarette consumption in that country. The value of kretek cigarette exports to the US was small compared to that of overall cigarette consumption in Indonesia but a US ban could be followed by other importing countries, "and that would be dangerous," he said. Separately, Chris Kanter, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) vice chairman for investment, communication and telematic affairs, said to issue such a ban the US must refer to WTO (World Trade Organization) standards according to which a product that was once permitted to enter a certain market could normally not be banned. Even so, Chris said, the government and the Indonesian business community should hand-in-hand lobby the US government not to issue the ban as it would affect Indonesia`s kretek cigarette exports to the US. The lobby should be done through lobbying bodies such as consultants or the chamber of commerce like the US itself often does to defend its economic interests, he said. But the government itself should also proactively hold negotiations with the US government, he added. According to Kadin data, the world cigarette market which Indonesia`s cigarette industry with a production of 200 billion cigarettes per year was about 5.5 triliun cigarettes per year. But cigarette consumption in a number of countries was tending to drop. In North America it had declined 20 percent, in Western Europe eight percent, in Australia and New Zealand 15 percent. Enditem