<strong>China: STMA Chief Urges Continued Support for Cigarette Brands of Yunnan</strong>

Source from:  HongyunHonghe Group 06/17/2014

Director-General Ling Chengxing of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) -- the regulator of China's tobacco industry -- has called for continued support for the development of cigarette brands and the tobacco industry of southwest China's tobacco-producing province of Yunnan.

In an addressed delivered at a symposium on the development of cigarette brands of Yunnan held in Mile City of Honghe Prefecture of Yunnan on June 5, Ling emphasized that support for the development of cigarette brands and the tobacco industry of Yunnan should continue to be taken as a common target, part of the common interests and common responsibility of the entire tobacco industry of China, in striving to ensure realization of continued growth in the sales of cigarette brands of Yunnan in all other provincial-level regions in China, continued improvement of the structure of cigarette products of Yunnan and continued enlargement of market shares by the tobacco industry of Yunnan.

The symposium was the first of its kind held in the wake of adoption of the policy of "two unifications and two integrations" by China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co., Ltd.

"Two unifications" refer to unification of management by China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co., Ltd. over the businesses of marketing on the part of its affiliated Hongta Group and HongyunHonghe Tobacco Group and unification of new products research and development by the two groups. Meanwhile, "two integrations" refer to integration of the existing cigarette brands and integration of the existing enterprises engaged in business diversification under Hongta Group and HongyunHonghe Tobacco Group. The "two unifications and two integrations" both are intended to further optimize the distribution of resources in the interest of realizing sustainable, healthy and steady development of the tobacco manufacturing enterprises in Yunnan.

Attending the symposium were Yunnan Provincial Deputy Governor Ding Shaoxiang; STMA Deputy Director-General Xu Ying; relevant leaders of the Administrative Affairs Office, the Department of Accounting and the Board of Directors Affairs Office of the STMA; relevant leaders of China National Leaf Tobacco Corporation, China Cigarette Sales Corporation and the commercial companies of the tobacco industries of provincial-level regions across China; China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co., Ltd. Communist Party group Secretary and General Manager Zhu Shaoming and Board of Directors Chairman Ye Libin; et al.

In a separate address delivered at the meeting, Ding Shaoxiang, on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party Yunnan Provincial Committee and the Yunnan Provincial Government, expressed gratitude to the national tobacco industry for its support and care for the tobacco industry of Yunnan over the past many years.

Ding expressed the hope that the national tobacco industry would extend maximum support to the tobacco industry of Yunnan in terms of brands development, structural promotion, market access of new products, change of specifications, guidance over consumption, etc, to ensure the making of progress by the tobacco industry of Yunnan amid stability in the process of reform, and to enable it to make greater contribution to the development of the national tobacco industry and the local economic development in Yunnan.

Also speaking at the meeting, China Cigarette Sales Corporation General Manager Cao Huaqing expressed the hope that the commercial sector of the national tobacco industry will continue to extend support for the development of cigarette brands of Yunnan as it has always done.

At the meeting, China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co., Ltd. General Manager Zhu Shaoming reported the economic operation of the company, the situation of reform leading to the "two unifications and two integrations" and the guidelines and planning for work over a next period of time.

"Two unifications" refer to unification of management by China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co., Ltd. over the businesses of marketing on the part of its affiliated Hongta Group and HongyunHonghe Tobacco Group and unification of new products research and development by the two groups. Meanwhile, "two integrations" refer to integration of the existing cigarette brands and integration of the existing enterprises engaged in business diversification under Hongta Group and HongyunHonghe Tobacco Group. The "two unifications and two integrations" both are intended to further optimize the distribution of resources in the interest of realizing sustainable, healthy and steady development of the tobacco manufacturing enterprises in Yunnan.

Meanwhile, leaders of the tobacco monopoly administrations of Jiangsu Province in east China, Yunnan Province, Heilongjiang Province in northeast China and Shaanxi Province in northwest China also respectively delivered speeches at the meeting to exchange opinions and experience.

On the sidelines of the meeting, China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co., Ltd. held a new product appraisal fair, in which the company introduced to participants in the meeting the designing ideas, flavor characteristics, market definition and packaging characteristics of several new products of the Yunyan and Hongtashan cigarette brands, and coordinated cigarette production and sales with the representatives of commercial enterprises of the tobacco industries in all provincial-level regions in the second half of 2014. Enditem