Cigarette plants across the country are shut because of uncertainty over pictorial warnings on cigarette packets. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had notified in May this year that all tobacco product packages in the country must carry pictorial health warnings depicting a cancer- stricken mouth, etc, from December 1, 2010. Industry participants have written to the health ministry seeking clarification on the pictorial warnings. However, the Cigarette industry association has no idea on when the plants will begin operations.
Tobacco giant ITC said that it had halted production of cigarettes across its five manufacturing units. The company said, there was no clarity on types of warnings to be carried on the packages. ITC makes brands like India Kings, Gold Flake and Navy Cut brands.
Similarly, another cigarette maker Godfrey Phillips India (GPI) has also stopped production of cigarettes.
Most companies generally carry an inventory level of 10 days to a month, so there is little likelihood of an impact on availability immediately.
Reacting to the shut down in production, union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the government may review the new cigarette pictorial warning order and may ask cigarette companies to change pictorial warning in two to three years.
The cigarette-making shutdown is causing tax loss for the government and there could be huge job losses if cigarette makers shut operations, he added
Stocks of both these companies were trading lower on the BSE.
Read more at: http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/cigarette-production-halts-on-pictorial-warning-126570?cp
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