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- 8 October 2024
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October 8, 2024
By GST Generation Sans Tabac
An opinion piece[1] published in the British Medical Journal blog shows how the tobacco industry thrives in the midst of wars and conflicts. More recently, the tobacco industry has offered free cigarettes to Ukrainian recruits trained in the UK and maintained operations in Russia when companies were supposed to leave the country.
The ways in which tobacco companies have profited from wars since World War I are well documented. Tobacco companies have targeted troops with free cigarettes, direct mail, branded merchandise, and “welcome home” events. This phenomenon continues to this day, and tobacco companies’ involvement in conflicts has taken many forms (distribution of tobacco products and nicotine to soldiers, promotion of tobacco products in countries weakened by conflict, involvement in illicit trade, etc.).
War in Ukraine: Profitable Situation for Cigarette Manufacturers
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, triggering Western sanctions, many large transnational corporations, including tobacco companies, pledged to withdraw from Russia. Thus, manufacturers Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT), and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) announced that they were leaving the Russian market. However, actions have not followed these words, as PMI and JTI remain deeply entrenched in the Russian market.
With a smoking prevalence of 27% in Russia, the country is a lucrative market for tobacco companies. In 2021, Russia accounted for approximately 10 TP3T of Philip Morris’s tobacco sales and 6 TP3T of its $31 billion net revenue. Similarly, Japan Tobacco, which derives 20 TP3T of its overall tobacco profits from the Russian market, decided in May 2024 to continue its operations in Russia to satisfy investors, despite previously announcing its withdrawal in 2022. JTI employs over 4,000 people and has four factories in Russia, making it one of the largest foreign companies still operating in the country. In 2022, these companies earned US$7.9 billion and US$7.4 billion in profits, respectively, and paid hundreds of millions of US$206 million in corporate taxes to Russia: Philip Morris US$206 million and Japan Tobacco US$193 million.
In Ukraine, PMI controls about a quarter (24 %) of the cigarette market. After temporarily suspending production in 2022, PMI continued to supply its cigarettes to Ukraine from eight factories located outside the country and by partnering with the cigarette manufacturer Imperial Brands which still operates in Ukraine. Philip Morris resumed operations within a week of the start of the war and resumed dealings with retailers.
An article from the Telegraph[2] had revealed in early 2024 an agreement between the United Kingdom and Ukraine to provide cigarettes, nicotine sachets and electronic cigarettes to Ukrainian soldiers who came to train across the Channel. These products were donated by one of the international tobacco companies, which has remained anonymous, and distributed to the soldiers as part of their rations. As the Telegraph points out, a source close to the matter is said to have claimed that smoking " poses a smaller threat to these brave soldiers than fighting Putin's illegal invasion of their country."
Tobacco industry profits from instability in some African regions
In Africa, Sudan has been in the grip of a civil war since April 2023, leading to a dire humanitarian situation: more than 8 million people have fled their homes, 25 million people are hungry and half the country’s population is dependent on life-saving aid. This crisis has affected British American Tobacco’s cigarette manufacturing and sales. To address this, BAT lobbied the government to change regulations so that it could manufacture small packs of 10 cigarettes and export them to Sudan and other markets where they are not banned. These small packs of cigarettes, known as “kiddie packs”, make it easier for younger and poorer populations to buy cigarettes. They are cheaper and therefore more affordable and therefore more likely to be purchased.[3]BAT hopes that the authorization granted for an export to Sudan will be followed by other authorizations for other African countries.
In 2021, an investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed how the tobacco industry is massively and deliberately fueling tobacco smuggling in West Africa, even as it finances the militarization of organized crime, ethnic militias, and Islamist terrorist organizations.[4]The investigation also revealed that Philip Morris' representative in Burkina Faso, Apollinaire Compaoré, listed as a smuggler by the UN itself, was at the head of an annual traffic of billions of cigarettes destined for North Africa (Libya, Algeria).
In the Middle East, countries at war continue to massively export and import cigarettes
Yemen, which has been in conflict for nine years, is facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Yet in 2019, Yemen imported 15,957.65K$ (3,361,440Kg) worth of cigarettes, mostly from the United Arab Emirates. The former British ambassador to Yemen attended the opening of a tobacco manufacturing plant jointly owned by the Yemeni government, cigarette manufacturer Kamaran and BAT in late 2019, as revealed by the University of Bath Tobacco Control Research Group. The ambassador said the plant was a valuable investment for BAT and the Yemeni economy. He later admitted that it was a mistake and that it was not his intention to promote the tobacco company.
In Syria, the civil war since 2011 has led to the forced displacement of more than 12 million people across the region. Yet the country remains a tobacco exporter. In 2023, the World Bank database recorded Syrian exports of cigars or cigarettes to the main importers Lebanon (771.68 K$, 54,174 kg), Jordan (44.37 K$, 3,115 kg) and Qatar (31.80 K$, 2,233 kg).
The authors conclude that some tobacco industry supporters might argue that continuing business as usual provides jobs and income. In reality, continued trade in the world's deadliest consumer products prolongs and exacerbates the hardships of war, and leads to increased burdens of poverty, morbidity, and mortality now and in the future. They add that it is important to expose all unethical practices by the tobacco industry.
AE
[1] Mary Assunta, Dmytro Kupyra, No Ceasefire for Tobacco: How the Industry Thrives Amid War and Conflict, BMJ Blog, published October 2, 2024, accessed October 4, 2024
[2] Generation without tobacco, UK distributes free cigarettes to Ukrainian soldiers, published on April 25, 2024, consulted on October 4, 2024
[3] Generation without tobacco, British American Tobacco puts pressure on Pakistan to export “child packs” of cigarettes to Sudan, published July 12, 2024, accessed October 4, 2024
[4] Generation without tobacco, Africa: Philip Morris smuggling finances terrorist organizations, published March 3, 2021, accessed October 4, 2024