Latest Issue

By Andrey Medvedev

It seems that the interminable saga of Bulgartabac that has been going on for the past 13 years has finally reached a definitive but somewhat mystifying conclusion.
The story dates back to 1998, when the government of the former prime minister Ivan Kostov took a fateful decision to privatize Bulgartabac, the state-owned cigarette maker. The first real steps to sell the company were taken in 2000, when the Bulgarian government officially put Bulgartabac up for sale. Several international companies expressed their interest, but it never went very far and an agreement was not reached.
In 2002, the Bulgarian parliament approved a new privatization strategy for Bulgartabac and over the next several years, the government made two more unsuccessful attempts to sell the company to Tobacco Capital Partners.

By Allen Liao 

Hongta Group – located in southwest China’s tobacco-producing Yunnan Province and one of the largest tobacco manufacturers in China – held a series of high-profile ceremonies in 11 major Chinese cities on September 1-6 to present to domestic markets an organic cigarette product of its time-honored Yuxi brand family, known as Yuxi (Manor), is the first organic cigarette product of China’s tobacco industry.

Staff Report 

“Inter-tabac is and will remain the number one of the industry; the world’s largest trade fair for tobacco products and smoking accessories once again confirmed the aforementioned over the last three days,” said Sabine Loos, chairman and c.e.o. of Westfalenhallen Dortmund GmbH and managing director of Messe Westfalenhallen Dortmund GmbH. With 303 exhibitors (2010:287) from a total of 40 countries, the trade fair set a new record.

By Heneage Mitchell

SPI Developments Ltd, is an industry leader in specialty adhesive and flavor application systems. Its products are found in leading cigarette factories around the world. Tobacco Asia visited SPI at its plant in Rotherham, UK, to discover what lies behind this company’s success.

Staff Report

In 2010, ATN Industrie merged with its parent company DCM USIMECA. The main purpose of this merger process was to cope with the actual market realities by adapting the structures of both companies

Staff Report

MoistTech of Moorpark CA USA has announced the release of version three of its world leading NIR analyzer range. The new generation incorporates an updated and improved version of its popular 828 Tobacco Analyzer.
Increasing demands from industry for technology to improve process capability and rapidly developing electronic and PC technologies have spurred Moisttech’s research and development to focus on updating its gauge platform using the very latest software and hardware available.

Staff Report

Cerulean, market-leading supplier of quality assurance equipment for the tobacco industry, has announced a new addition to its Quantum family of test stations for cigarettes and filter rods. Quantum Solo uses the company’s recognized and accepted Quantum ‘smart shelf’ technology to provide a robust and highly reliable, stand-alone, single measurement test station, enabling customers to quickly measure either weight, circumference, length, hardness, pressure drop and ventilation, or moisture and density profiles depending on which version is selected.

Staff Report

ProTobEx ASIA and Inter-tabac ASIA
March 15-17, 2012, PICC Manila, Philippines
When investing your marketing dollars in a trade show, there are several points to consider to make sure you are not pouring good money into an event that risks failing to meet your expectations and therefore fails to ensure a reasonable return – profit – for the time and money invested.

By Heneage Mitchell

J. Cortès is widely known as manufacturer of quality cigars with its century old rich history and tradition of cigar making. J. Cortès Cigars, Belgium’s prime cigar producer, was established in 1926 by Maurits Vandermarliere. Several decades later, the company has shown a spectacular growth reaching a yearly consolidated production of over 480 million cigars which are sold in over 90 countries worldwide.

By Allen Liao

After the latest round of sweeping structural reforms designed to significantly enhance their production capacities, Chinese tobacco manufacturers appear to be concentrating on penetrating international markets by either increasing cigarette exports or establishing overseas joint-venture cigarette-making enterprises.