The nation's tobacco industry boomed in the first half, with sales up nearly 6 per cent and profits up 14 per cent, which is good news for the Ministry of Finance but a timebomb for the medical profession.
Yesterday, an official from the State Tobacco Monopoly said the six-month period saw the output of cigarettes rise 3.3 per cent to 17.82 million cases, retail sales up 5.5 per cent to 17.75 million cases and after-tax profits up 13.62 per cent to 21.93 billion yuan (about HK$20.55 billion).
'Yes, it has been a good period,' she said.
The industry made progress in its efforts to restructure and cut the number of small plants.
Of 56 factories that produced less than 100,000 cases a year, 21 had gone bankrupt, three had stopped production and 25 were taken over by larger firms, the state monopoly said.
The data indicates that this year, as in previous years, tobacco will make the largest contribution of any industry to the Ministry of Finance, which is the main reason the government is nervous to see any dramatic fall in the number of smokers. This is despite China last year spending more on the ill-effects of smoking - US$7.8 billion - than the US$4.9 billion it earned from tax revenue, according to a China Business Daily report earlier this month.
