GUNTUR: The Centre is considering to bring the crops that are being managed by independent boards such as tobacco , tea and rubber under insurance cover. It is learnt that the commerce ministry has asked for detailed reports from the chiefs of the boards with observations of the stakeholders of the crops. After a meeting in Delhi, senior officials of the commerce ministry asked the Tobacco Board to initiate discussions with the growers to implement the scheme. With Parliament in session , Tobacco Board chairman G Kamalavardhan Rao deputed its executive director K Subbarao for the high-level me ... Jump to full article >>

OLYMPIA — State lawmakers are looking to ease Washington’s strict smoking ban by allowing cigar and pipe smoking for a limited number of tobacco retailers. A key Senate committee approved a bill Thursday that would permit up to 100 cigar lounges and 500 retail tobacco shops to allow smoking. Cigarettes would still be banned. Businesses would have to pay annual fees of $17,500 to obtain cigar lounge endorsements and $6,000 to obtain tobacco store endorsements. Supporters say the bill could help some local businesses hurt by the smoking ban that voters approved in 2005. Critics say the m ... Jump to full article >>

IRELAND REMAINS one of the “preferred destinations” in the EU for cigarette smuggling because of its comparatively high taxes on tobacco, a new report into criminal activity in the union has found. Europol, the agency that handles criminal intelligence within the union, published its EU Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2011 yesterday. It covers a wide range of criminal activity, including the drugs trade, illegal immigration, human trafficking, fraud, counterfeiting, property and environmental crime and weapons trafficking. Europol says the “outstanding” feature of its latest assessm ... Jump to full article >>

Nearly half the cigarettes sold in Hong Kong are illegal because of high prices, a tobacco concern group claims. The finding was based on an informal “survey” carried out by the Vote Against Tax Hikes Alliance, which rummaged through dozens of trash bins in Lok Fu and Lam Tin public housing estates last month, picking up empty cigarette packages. Of the 200 boxes retrieved, 92 were either from the mainland, or on which duty was not paid. “High tobacco taxes are forcing more people to turn to illicit cigarettes, because regular cigarettes are too expensive and because it is di ... Jump to full article >>

The Nova Scotia government announced a five-year tobacco control strategy on Wednesday, aimed at reducing smoking rates among young people in the province. Health Minister Maureen MacDonald said the province wants to reduce smoking rates among 20- to 24-year-olds from 29 per cent to 20 per cent by 2015-16. Within the same time period, Nova Scotia also wants to reduce smoking among teenagers from 15 per cent to 10 per cent. “It is troubling to hear that one out of five tobacco vendors are still selling to minors,” MacDonald told reporters. “This is unacceptable.” [captio ... Jump to full article >>

The price of local cigarettes could go up by as much as 83 percent next year based on estimates drawn up by the Finance Department on the seven excise tax bills pending in Congress. Finance compared revenue estimates and price increases under several proposals to reform the excise tax on alcohol and tobacco products now lodged with the House Committee on Ways and Means. Finance said the price of local cigarettes could increase by 82.9 percent in 2012 if the government opted for House Bill 3465 filed by Batanes Rep. Henedina Abad and HB 3489 by Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., both seeking to restru ... Jump to full article >>

A combination of poor policies, lack of political leadership, high credit card transaction fees and contraband tobacco are having a devastating impact on Canada’s corner stores, forcing 350 to close last year alone, according to the trade body representing mom and pop shops. Last year, sales at convenience stores without gas stations were $11.2 billion, virtually unchanged from the year before. Those selling gas reported a rise of 9.2% to $22.6 billion, helped by higher prices at the pump, according to the Canadian Convenience Stores Association’s annual report. Canada’s con ... Jump to full article >>

House lawmakers voted unanimously last night to ban welfare recipients from spending their cash benefits on alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets, reigniting an issue that flared during Governor Deval Patrick’s reelection campaign last year. The House approved the ban, as part of a larger amendment to the state budget, on a 155-0 vote. The measure not only targets welfare recipients, it also bans store owners from accepting welfare debit cards for purchases of alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets. Store owners who violate the ban could be fined $500 for the first offense, and more than $1,0 ... Jump to full article >>

The Food and Drug Administration wants to get schooled in cigarette making. The federal agency’s 2-year-old Center for Tobacco Products is asking tobacco companies to invite it to tour farms and factories that grow or process tobacco. It says the visits are meant to help the agency better understand how each step in the process — from field to package — could influence the final product. The FDA wants to tour large and small cigarette factories, a smokeless-tobacco plant, tobacco farms, a rolling-paper factory and a tobacco warehouse. The agency won the authority to regulate tobacco ... Jump to full article >>

MORE than 25,000 cigarettes have been seized from an eastern European store in Ross-on-Wye. Acting on intelligence, the store was visited by Herefordshire Council’s trading standards team, West Mercia Police and HM Revenue and Customs. They found that UK duty tax had not been paid on 25,740 cigarettes and 14.55 kilogrammes of hand rolling tobacco that were found in the store. “Cheap tobacco and cigarettes can be identified by the price and that they don’t display the legal health warnings,” said Leah Wilson, a Herefordshire Council trading standards officer. “A typical brand of 20 c ... Jump to full article >>

The cigarette excise tax hike passed by the House is another blow to small local businesses like Hibbert & McGee Wholesalers and other distributors that provide jobs to Vermont residents. But if that’s not bad enough, the increase could actually end up costing Vermont tax revenue as fed-up smokers go out-of-state to buy cigarettes. If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the tax hike would increase by $1 the Vermont state excise tax on a pack of cigarettes to $3.24, and would be the fourth cigarette tax increase in five years (a 172 percent increase). Why do my employees and I car ... Jump to full article >>