China Reiterates That the Ban Remains on Tobacco Ventures
China reiterated a ban on new cigarette ventures, highlighting the complexities facing foreign tobacco companies as they struggle to gain entry into the world's largest cigarette market.
"China won't approve any new cigarette plants, whether domestically funded, joint venture or wholly foreign-invested," said Xing Wanli, spokesman for the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration . He said there was no timetable on how long the ban would last. The statements elaborated on official comments carried by the Xinhua news agency late last year.
While the world's big tobacco brands long have touted the promise of China -- home to 320 million smokers who consume one of every three cigarettes smoked world-wide -- the bureaucracy that oversees the industry so far has kept it mostly off-limits to foreign companies. Chinese regulators appear focused on consolidating the fragmented industry before introducing new competition. During the past year, they have cut the number of domestic cigarette makers to 57 from 84.
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"China's tobacco companies are not as competitive as foreign ones," said an official with the tobacco monopoly's industrial-development research institute. "If we let foreign companies come in, that would do harm to our domestic industry."
Other factors argue against a hasty opening. Taxes from the sale of cigarettes, which all are made by the government-controlled monopoly, are a big contributor to state coffers. In the poor southwestern province of Yunnan, for example, tobacco taxes underwrite the local economy, and tobacco companies frequently help fund the construction of buildings and roads. China's tobacco industry made $25 billion in pretax profit last year, up nearly one-third from a year earlier.
The announcement is a particularly pointed blow for British American Tobacco PLC. In July of last year, the London company said it had gained approval from China's central government and other authorities to build a $1.5 billion factory that could produce cigarettes for the domestic market. But the tobacco monopoly at the time denied that the project had proper approval. BAT said yesterday it had no specific comment about the ban. Its investment plan, the statement said, "has gained approval from China's central government. BAT will unveil related information as soon as details are settled."
China can afford to dictate the terms of the industry's opening. The country's market-opening promises to join the World Trade Organization contain no concessions allowing foreign companies to produce cigarettes within China. While taxes on imported cigarettes have come down, imported tobacco leaf and cigarettes first must gain approval from an import-export company under the tobacco monopoly.
中国重申严禁新建烟草企业的禁令
中国重申严禁新建烟草企业的禁令，从而使那些千方百计想踏足中国巨大香烟市场的国际烟草巨鳄们所面临的重重难关凸现无遗。
中国国家烟草专卖局(State Tobacco Monopoly Administration)发言人邢万里日前再次强调说，中国不会批准兴建任何新的烟厂，无论是国内投资、合资还是外商独资的烟草企业均在禁止之列。他说，禁令的效力及至何时目前尚无规定。中国官方新闻机构新华通讯社去年下半年曾刊载官方就此禁令发表的评论，邢万里此番言语可说是对官方评论作出了进一步的解释。
长时间来，几家全球烟草业巨头一直在大肆渲染中国开放市场的承诺，然而时至今日，国家烟草专卖局这个中国烟草业监管部门一直将境外企业紧紧关在这个拥有3.2亿烟民的巨大烟草市场的大门之外。它似乎是要先集中精力对国内群雄割据的烟草行业进行整合，然后才会考虑引入新的竞争者。在过去一年中，中国国内烟厂数量从84家减少到了57家。
国家烟草专卖局下属行业发展研究机构的一位官员说，中国烟草企业的竞争力不及境外同行，现在放开市场会对国内烟草企业造成伤害。
另外还有其他因素迫使中国不能仓促放开烟草市场。香烟销售税是中国国库的一项重要收入来源。以西南部相对贫困的云南省为例，烟草税是当地经济的支柱，当地的烟草企业还经常资助省内的基础设施建设。中国烟草行业去年的税前利润达250亿美元，与前一年相比增长了将近三分之一。此外，像美国那样的反烟草运动也还远没有在中国形成势力。
中国此次重申禁令对于英美烟草(British American Tobacco PLC)尤其是当头一棒。去年7月，该公司声称已获得中国中央政府和其他监管部门的批准，准备斥资15亿美元在中国建立一家卷烟厂。但是中国国家烟草专卖局当时就对此予以否认。英美烟草周四在一份声明中表示，它不想就国家烟草专卖局重申禁令发表评论。公司在声明中称，它在中国的投资计划已经获得了中国中央政府的批准，一旦细节问题敲定，公司会尽早公布相关信息。
在是否放开烟草行业的问题上，中国政府全无拘束。在其加入世界贸易组织(World Trade Organization, 简称WTO)时所作出的种种承诺中，并不包括允许外商在中国生产香烟。尽管进口香烟的关税已经下调，但是烟叶和香烟的进口仍需获得国家烟草专卖局辖下的进出口公司的许可权。
迄今为止，只有寥寥几家外国烟草企业在中国建立合资业务，而且规模都不大。英美烟草在山东省有一家生产规模不大的合资厂，日本烟草(Japan Tobacco Inc.)建有一家合资卷烟厂，生产柔和七星(Mild Seven)和其他品牌的香烟，产品主要用于出口。另外，根据中国国内去年的一篇新闻报导，菲利普莫里斯(Philip Morris)已和福建省的龙岩卷烟厂(Longyan Tobacco Factory)达成协议，合资生产万宝璐(Marlboro)香烟。龙岩卷烟厂的一位工程师去年年底时说，他们已经对设备进行了调整，为合资企业做好了准备。
菲利普莫里斯说，对于未来的事，它不会妄加评论。
