China tops the world in many indicators. One of the less discussed and less noticed among these is smoking. It is both the world?s largest producer as well as consumer of tobacco. It accounts for almost two-fifths of both world production and consumption of tobacco.
Tobacco is also an industry where China and India beat the rest of the world hollow. As the world?s first and second highest tobacco producers, they account for half of the total tobacco leafs produced in the world. They also account for just over 45% of the world consumption of tobacco. Indeed, it is not wrong to fix tobacco as a common feature of the original BRICS club. Brazil accounts for 8.3% and 3.3% of the world?s production and consumption of tobacco while Russia accounts for 1.4% of the production and 6.4% of the consumption. All the four original BRIC members?Brazil, Russia, India and China?figure among the top ten producers and consumers of tobacco in the world.
A World Health Organisation report found 60% of the adult population in China to be smokers. Other estimates point to around 400 million smokers in the country, which could well be underestimation. The tobacco industry in China is unique in terms of it being a state monopoly. The industry is run by the world?s largest state-owned cigarette manufacturer?the China National Tobacco Company (CNTC). Operations of the CNTC are overseen by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration. Between them, the two organisations have 31 cigarette manufacturing factories. None of the other BRIC members have the state as a leading producer of tobacco.
Visitors to China are struck by two aspects of the country?s smoking culture. The first is, of course, its omnipresence. The second is the wide variety of cigarettes found in country. No other country probably manufactures as many brands and colourful cigarettes as China does. Just about a decade ago China had around 1,200 different brands of cigarettes available in retail stores in different parts of the country. Consolidation within the CNTC?s operations has led to the number of brands dropping to around 150 in 2008. It is difficult to think of any other country where blue, red, green, black, yellow, purple, silver, golden, light and white colour cigarettes are simultaneously available, often under exotic names such as Double Happiness, The Scarlet Camellia, State Guests, Stone Forest, Pride, Lesser Panda, Good Fortune and Golden Leaf. The large presence of diverse home-grown brands and the distinct taste of local tobacco have limited penetration of western cigarettes in the market. Unlike India, however, the prevalence of chewing tobacco is practically absent.
Smoking is a social practice and common culture in China. Despite passage of tobacco control legislations, smoking is not looked down upon. Men in particular are often encouraged to smoke. Exchange of tobacco as gifts on important social or festive occasions is also a common custom.
Tobacco is also the example of an agro-based industry in China, whose growth and production has been skilfully managed through active participation of the local leadership and political machinery. In Guoqiao province, for example, the local leadership, in consultation with the state-owned tobacco enterprise, introduced different varieties of tobacco and encouraged all farmers to grow the same. Similar examples are available from other parts of the country also. The local leaderships at provincial and village levels have vested interests in encouraging cultivation of tobacco. It is one of the products on which taxes imposed accrue entirely to the local governments. For some of the latter, particularly those which are relatively economically backward and do not have thriving real estate markets for fetching large land revenues, tobacco tax is the only stable source of earning.
Thus the incentive on part of local authorities to continue with tobacco cultivation is strong enough to encourage its perpetuation. It is also important to note that the tobacco crop not only provides livelihoods to several farmers, the cigarette industry also provides large-scale employments, features similar to India, Brazil and Russia.
Modern China is split between two conflicting objectives in managing the tobacco industry. The rising incidence of illnesses and health risks has forced China to issue tobacco control legislations. So has the pressure to act and implement Millennium Development Goals in health. However, the nationwide ban on smoking in health administration offices and medical facilities is difficult to replicate in other aspects of public life because of the state?s complex relationship with the tobacco industry. As long as tobacco continues to be a major source of local revenues and export earnings for the country, it will be hard to convince tobacco growers to shift to other crops. Studies have also shown that smokers in China hardly give up smoking due to fears of health hazards and do so only after being affected by chronic illnesses. Thus politics, culture, social practices and economics combine to make tobacco an indispensable part of China?s industry. No one would really envy the ministry of health in China for the onerous task it has ahead of it.
The author is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies in the National University of Singapore. He can be reached at amitendu@gmail.com. These are his personal views