Asia: Market and regulatory data analysis of the vaping sector

Chinese authorities arrest 30 suspects in two HnB smuggling cases

Written by ECigIntelligence | 10th August 2018

A total of 30 suspects have been arrested in a joint anti-smuggling operation by Chinese law enforcement. China Tobacco Ningbo, Ningbo municipal police department and Ningbo municipal anti-smuggling bureau joined forces ...

Advantage BAT in the race to open up US for heated tobacco

Written by David Palacios Rubio | 30th July 2018

British American Tobacco (BAT) has a chance to steal a march on its Big Tobacco rivals in the heated-tobacco market after the company became the first to receive approval to sell a heat-not-burn device in...

More state bans loom for India’s beleaguered e-cig industry

Written by ECigIntelligence | 23rd July 2018

The e-cigarette crackdown in India has continued with new bans proposed in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and the northern state of Rajasthan ...

‘Make your voice heard’ as India and South Africa mull over regulation

Written by Freddie Dawson | 18th July 2018

Members of the e-cigarette industry in South Africa and India, or looking to do business in those countries, have been urged to submit comments to the various bodies preparing legislation there ...

Will vaping industry take a beating in tariffs round two or three?

Written by Freddie Dawson | 16th July 2018

The initial round of trade tariffs imposed on China by the Trump administration is not expected to have much impact on the vapour industry – but a forthcoming second round could specifically include vaping products...

‘Tobacco substitutes and extracts’ hit by Chinese tariffs are not e-liquids

Written by ECigIntelligence | 9th July 2018

ECigIntelligence can reveal that reports that China was imposing a tariff on e-liquids as part of its tit-for-tat trade war with the US are wide of the mark ...

Indonesia delays e-liquid tax to October due to ‘a lot of use’

Written by Freddie Dawson | 7th July 2018

The full implementation of a 57% tax on e-liquid in Indonesia has been delayed until 1st October 2018. The tax was originally scheduled to come into force on 1st July ...

Trump’s tariff war with China will hit vapour goods in round two

Written by Daniel Mollenkamp | 5th July 2018

Vaping imports from China – a major source for the industry worldwide – will be hit by a second round of US trade tariffs likely to follow the first ...

Japanese firm launches independent rival device to heat IQOS Heets

Written by Freddie Dawson | 4th July 2018

A new heated-tobacco device which uses PMI’s tobacco consumables Heets will be officially launched on the Japanese market later this month by Jouz, a new independent company ...

Japan embraces CBD – with eager endorsement in high places

Written by ECigIntelligence | 2nd July 2018

Japan, although a socially conservative nation with stringent laws on both medical and recreational marijuana, now allows the sale of CBD products, including e-liquid – and even the prime minister’s wife approves ...

Hong Kong moves towards legal HnB, while keeping e-cigs tightly controlled

Written by Freddie Dawson | 20th June 2018

Hong Kong plans to regulate HnB products in the same way as conventional cigarettes, lifting a rarely-enforced ban. But the current heavy restrictions on nicotine-containing e-cigarettes will remain ...

Beyond Kungfu – China Tobacco ready to move further into vapour and HnB

Written by ECigIntelligence | 18th June 2018

China Tobacco, the Chinese state monopoly, looks set to increase its involvement in alternative products, including both e-cigarettes and heated tobacco – possibly in co-operation with major foreign companies ...

Israel to crack down on Juul before general e-cigarette regulation

Written by David Palacios Rubio | 11th June 2018

A few weeks after the launch of the Juul vaping device on the Israeli market, the Ministry of Health has announced restrictive measures against its sale, claiming it contains too much nicotine ...

South Korea takes new graphic approach to e-cig and HnB warnings

Written by ECigIntelligence | 11th June 2018

The South Korean government is stepping up its efforts to discourage use of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products with new graphic health warning images that will appear on packages later this year ...

Chinese industry sets its own standards – and hopes government will follow

Written by ECigIntelligence | 31st May 2018

A set of industry-designed standards could inform future national Chinese standards for e-cigarette products– said to be expected within 24 months ...

India preparing for nationwide clampdown on nicotine vapes

Written by ECigIntelligence | 24th May 2018

The government of India appears to be very close to taking action against nicotine e-cigarettes – “regulating, including banning, the manufacture, import, sale and any kind of trade in nicotine” or devices that enable its...

Rival HnB devices that use IQOS consumables available in Japan

Written by ECigIntelligence | 17th May 2018

Japan’s advanced heated tobacco market and its ban on nicotine e-liquid are between them leading e-cigarette manufacturers to launch their own HnB devices – many compatible with the Heets made for market leader IQOS ...

Big in Japan – now JTI and BAT plan to make HnB bigger

Written by Freddie Dawson | 7th May 2018

British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) are both planning further investment in reduced-risk products following successful Japanese launches ...

Counterfeit gorillas, disputed racers in China’s battlefield of fakes

Written by ECigIntelligence | 30th April 2018

Amid the haze of vape fog shrouding the four packed halls of the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Centre, disputes simmered at China’s foremost vape exhibition over alleged trademark violations and cloned e-liquids ...

China expo highlights the speed of the shift towards closed systems

Written by ECigIntelligence | 27th April 2018

The nature of closed-system pods is changing fast and if the current generation of large-sized mod systems is relegated primarily to hobbyists, could this be the death knell for vape stores in China? ...

Vape show reveals mixed feelings on Japan’s market future

Written by ECigIntelligence | 16th April 2018

Opinions on the future of the Japanese e-cigarette market at the country’s first vape sector tradeshow were mixed, with some optimism despite the continuing ban on nicotine e-liquid and the dramatic success of HnB products...

New court-ordered ban highlights legal complexities in India

Written by ECigIntelligence | 13th April 2018

A new court order reinforcing e-cigarette bans in the Indian states of Haryana and Punjab underlines the complexity of enforcement in a country where restrictions on vapour products have been slowly accumulating for...

Nicotine ‘more dangerous than drink’ according to survey respondents

Written by Daniel Mollenkamp | 21st March 2018

More than half of US consumers wrongly believe that using nicotine every day is more dangerous than drinking every day, according to a new global survey from the Foundation for a Smoke-free World (FSFW) ...

JT set to take the biggest hit from Japan’s new HnB tax plans

Written by ECigIntelligence | 6th March 2018

The budget plan making its way through a host of Japanese parliamentary committees includes a staggered series of tax rises for heated tobacco products as well as combustible cigarettes – and Japan Tobacco could suffer...

Indian state of Bihar bans nicotine-containing e-cigs and e-hookahs

Written by ECigIntelligence | 1st March 2018

Bihar has become the latest Indian state to place a blanket ban on all forms of e-cigarettes and related items, joining at least five others ...

Vape stores in the Philippines face very different futures as local laws vary widely

Written by ECigIntelligence | 23rd February 2018

As a number of e-cigarette regulatory proposals continue to languish in the Philippine’s legislative system, the the island nation is left without any national regulation for vaping products and widely varying local law...

Health coalition calls for Myanmar to introduce e-cig regulation

Written by ECigIntelligence | 21st February 2018

A coalition of organisations led by the non-profit People’s Health Foundation (PHF) is calling on the government of Myanmar to regulate e-cigarettes – up to and including a total ban on imports ...

Heat-not-burn products rise as cigarette sales fall in Japan

Written by Freddie Dawson | 9th February 2018

Reduced-risk products have severely impacted sales of conventional cigarettes in Japan, according to Japan Tobacco. The firm says the total value of cigarette sales fell by 12.5% in 2017 ...

IQOS flourishes across Southeast Asia – without PMI’s approval

Written by ECigIntelligence | 6th February 2018

The IQOS heated tobacco system is on sale across Southeast Asia, despite doubts over its legality in a number of countries, and the official disapproval of its maker, Philip Morris International ...

Officials hit more than 200 vape stores in coordinated raids across Malaysia

Written by ECigIntelligence | 31st January 2018

A surprise coordinated raid on more than 200 vape stores across Malaysia has left many facing damaging losses, according to the country’s vapour trade association ...

Israel set to tackle e-cig regulation with a clampdown on advertising

Written by David Palacios Rubio | 15th January 2018

Israel is in the process of taking a new approach to the advertising of new tobacco-related products, with a likely ban on all advertising of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products anywhere but in print and...

Taiwan moves towards a total ban on all e-cigarette products

Written by ECigIntelligence | 18th December 2017

A proposed amendment to Taiwanese law would impose a total ban on the manufacture, importation, sale or advertising of all e-cigarette products, closing down entirely a business that currently supports an estimated 200,000 vapers ...

Vapers in the Philippines are urged to take a considerate approach

Written by ECigIntelligence | 14th December 2017

Vaping advocates in the Philippines are keen to encourage considerate and responsible use of e-cigarettes, including not vaping where smoking is not allowed, in the hope of forestalling potential tough regulation ...

Licensing scheme for importers will legalise and control Indonesian e-cig trade

Written by ECigIntelligence | 22nd November 2017

Indonesia is to legalise the importation of nicotine-containing e-liquids – in order to reduce it. Along with a new tax, the move will bring clarity to a trade that has existed in a grey area...

Youthful optimism among Indian entrepreneurs over growing market

Written by ECigIntelligence | 9th November 2017

The optimism of a young entrepreneur in India's growing e-cigarette sector stands counter to some of the gloom surrounding rumours for regulation of the market ...

KT&G launches HnB Lil in South Korea, challenging IQOS and Glo on price

Written by Freddie Dawson | 8th November 2017

The biggest tobacco company in South Korea, KT&G, has launched its own heat-not-burn (HnB) device into the rapidly expanding tobacco alternatives market in the country, where it will compete with PMI’s IQOS and BAT’s Glo...

The Arabian Gulf and Maghreb – widely separated on e-cig regulation

Written by David Palacios Rubio | 8th November 2017

There are enormous differences between the so-called Arab nations of the Gulf and the Maghreb – not least in their very different approaches to e-cigs and their users ...

Police raid on Turkish vape party may signal the start of a crackdown

Written by ECigIntelligence | 1st November 2017

A police raid on a vape party in Istanbul may signal a new willingness by the Turkish authorities to crack down on the country’s grey market in e-cigarette products ...

Turkish government’s ‘secret attempt’ to legalise HnB exposed and shot down

Written by ECigIntelligence | 1st November 2017

Heated tobacco products remain banned in Turkey after opposition politicians uncovered a “hidden” bid by the government to legalise them while retaining the prohibition on e-cigarettes ...

Singapore moving rapidly towards total ban on possession of e-cigs

Written by ECigIntelligence | 1st November 2017

Singapore is facing a total ban on e-cigarettes as the government moves towards amending already strict existing legislation by the end of 2017 ...

Boom in IQOS figures reveals HnB’s growing share of world tobacco market

Written by Freddie Dawson | 26th October 2017

Heated tobacco continues to take up a greater and greater share of the total world tobacco market, according to new figures from Philip Morris International (PMI) outlining the success of its IQOS device ...

South Korea proposes HnB tax almost equal to tobacco

Written by Freddie Dawson | 23rd October 2017

A new tax proposal for heat-not-burn (HnB) products in South Korea could leave them more expensive than their traditional cigarette counterparts....

Japan’s online searches for HnB outstrip American interest in vaping

Written by Barnaby Page | 16th October 2017

The number of Google searches in Japan for topics related to heat-not-burn has rocketed, illustrating how rapidly the new nicotine technology has gained ground in that country ...

Federal and state interventions led to late cancellation of Vape Expo India

Written by ECigIntelligence | 12th October 2017

A last-minute court hearing led to India’s first planned Vape Expo being called off just three days before the event was due to begin ...

Massive Chinese e-liquid seizure could mark start of regulatory scrutiny

Written by ECigIntelligence | 11th October 2017

Chinese customs authorities have seized a reported 600-ton shipment of smuggled e-liquid – but does it represent the start of a period of greater regulatory scrutiny in the...

E-cigarette prices in Bangladesh set to soar under new customs regime

Written by ECigIntelligence | 2nd October 2017

New customs duties will more than double the price of most e-cigarettes in Bangladesh as the government attempts to reduce the use of nicotine by young people ...

From tiny beginnings, China’s vaping market is growing rapidly

Written by ECigIntelligence | 2nd October 2017

The number of vapers in China appears to have doubled since 2016, while the value of the market has almost tripled in a year, according to research by ECigIntelligence ...

Jammu and Kashmir becomes the fifth Indian state to ban e-cigarettes

Written by ECigIntelligence | 28th September 2017

Jammu and Kashmir has become the fifth Indian state to ban e-cigarettes, following pressure from the World Health Organization (WHO) ...

Japanese regulation favours HnB products over e-cigarettes

Written by ECigIntelligence | 18th September 2017

The market for heated tobacco products in Japan is very favourable due to comparatively light regulation – as opposed to e-cigarettes, which are subject to more controls ...

Domestic troubles send Malaysian manufacturers into foreign markets

Written by Freddie Dawson | 5th September 2017

Malaysian e-liquid manufacturers are looking at the European Union and other markets as regulatory uncertainty bites at home – but only the bigger players can afford the costs involved ...

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