EU accused of hiding support for snus / Giant lobbyists in snus battle

[Bill Godshall]

RJ Reynolds claims that Camel Snus now accounts for 70% of the US market share for snus, with Altria (Marlboro Snus and Skoal Snus) and Swedish Match (General is their biggest selling brand) combining for most of the other 30% of US market share.

To my knowledge, countries that ban the sale of snus include all of the EU countries (except Sweden), Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

Far more snus is sold in Sweden that in any other country, Norway (which isn't a member of the EU) has the second largest snus market, and the US is a distant third.

Imperial tobacco Canada introduced several brands of snus in Canada about four years ago, but it didn't sell (partly due to Canada's tobacco advertising ban, and more recently some Canadian provinces have banned tobacco display bans) and was pulled from the market. Since its illegal to advertise snus, and since its illegal for retailers to show snus products to adult tobacco customers, most smokers in Canada have never heard of and have never seen any snus product.

 

[rothenbj]

Basically to get Swedish snus here, you have a few brick and mortars selling General (SM), but they're few and far between. Then you have a couple companies owned by the same co. rhat have a warehouse in PA that gives you a bit more variety. To truly get a decent selection, you need to order directly from Sweden, have it mailed UPS with signature required (thank you PACT) and hope the FDA doesn't hang you up too long.

This is one of the reasons I feel PACT was supported bt BT, protect their US market as they rolled out an inferior US product.

Hopefully, the EU will be forced into opening up Europe and some of the snus benefit will be recognized outside Sweden.

 

[Tom09]

From the updated Reuters article (now with Swedish minister’s quote):

Trade minister Ewa Bjorling said she had met EU Health Commissioner John Dalli and discussed the results of a survey of EU states about current tobacco laws.

"What I believe is most important is that you base your reasoning on scientific facts. That is what I try to tell Dalli, and I ask the question: Why do you still want to have a ban on Swedish wet snuff when there are other snuff products on the market in the EU, for example Pakistani snuff?," Bjorling told Reuters.

This was the second time she raised the snus issue with Dalli.

"I think he was listening in a different way this time. The first time he dismissed it simply saying their goal is to get everything away for health reasons," Bjorling said.

Remains to be seen if there is more than wishful thinking (and some help for Nordic stock). Last sentence of the quote is the most important. The officially stated position (August 2011) of the EU Health Commission is: no reason to change the legal status of snus because scientific evidence indicates harmful effects of all smokeless tobacco products. Necessary differentiation would certainly be something to begin with.

 

[Tom09]

Snowdon (Velvet Glove, Iron Fist, 13 December 2011), a blog post about EU's ban on snus and the revision process.