What will happen to the e-cigarette market without ＂fruit flavor＂ in Tianmu survey？

Tianmu journalist Gan Jupeng

"The last day, there are not many goods. If you can save it, you can save it." On September 30, Wang Ming (a pseudonym), an e-cigarette brand agent in Hangzhou, said in a circle of friends. Posters of countdown began to appear in early September, and finally came to the "deadline".

On March 11th this year, the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau issued the Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes, which stipulated that the sale of fruit-flavored tobacco bombs would be completely banned from October 1st. At the same time, the Compulsory National Standard for Electronic Cigarettes came into full effect. After half a year’s transition period, the new regulations for e-cigarettes have finally arrived.

Do consumers accept the new national standard electronic cigarettes? How do agents transform? After the barbaric growth, can the industry move towards standardization? When the "fruity smell" disappears, users, agents, enterprises and tobacco control units are quietly waiting to meet the "ultimate exam".

Agent: Transformation or Exit

On September 30, Wang Ming moved the remaining dozen boxes of fruit-flavored smoke bombs home, intending to keep them for his own use.

"After these are contraband, can’t sell. There are many people who have been hoarding goods these days. Most of them have been squatting for about half a year, and the goods in the store have basically bottomed out. " Wang Ming told the Tianmu journalist.

Miss Bai, who works on the Internet in Hangzhou, has been slowly collecting some fruit-flavored smoke bombs since September, and there are more than 10 boxes so far.

"I’m going to stop smoking after I finish this batch. Quitting smoking is good for your health. Recently, the price increase has been too great. Some tastes have risen from 99 yuan to 109 yuan, and the merchants say that there are not many goods. " Miss Bai said.

Wang Ming’s shop didn’t raise the price, so it was all handled at the original price. Facing the approaching deadline, Wang Ming only wants to clear the inventory.

Since 2018, Wang Ming, who resigned, has seen business opportunities, set up a store and started to operate e-cigarette business, becoming one of the earliest agents in Hangzhou. After earning the first bucket of gold, Wang Ming soon opened a second shop in a shopping mall.

In March of this year, Wang Ming already felt that the industry was about to undergo a major change. At that time, the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau proposed to completely ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes other than tobacco flavors and e-cigarettes that can be atomized by themselves from May 1. Later, the ban was extended to October 1.

Li Yan, who is the first agent with Wang Ming, has a bigger business and has more than a dozen stores in Hangzhou. Now she is also facing a choice.

"During the National Day, some of our stores were closed, and the stock of fruit-flavored cigarettes and bombs has been sold almost. We used to be Yueke’s exclusive store, and later we will be transformed into a collection store. I have obtained a retail license, and brands and products that meet the new national standard can be done. " Li Yan told the Tianmu journalist.

Production and operation enterprises: hold relevant certificates.

The era of unlicensed operation in which everyone can make e-cigarettes is over.

On September 29th, the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau issued the Notice on Strengthening the Supervision of E-cigarettes in official website, re-emphasizing that from October 1st, e-cigarette market participants engaged in the production and operation of e-cigarettes should obtain tobacco monopoly licenses.

"Pain is inevitable, but it also points out the direction for future development." Li Yan told Tianmu journalists that the e-cigarette market was mixed before, and the introduction of new regulations was conducive to controlling the chaos in the e-cigarette industry. In the future, the concentration of e-cigarette brands will be higher and higher.

According to the new consumption data of e-cigarette industry platform Blue Hole, at present, there are 40 e-cigarette brands in China, and more than 80 products have been approved for listing. Nearly 400 e-cigarette related enterprises have obtained tobacco monopoly production licenses. 54,000 e-cigarette retail licenses will be planned and laid out nationwide.

According to the incomplete statistics of Tianmu journalists, at least eight A-share listed companies or their subsidiaries have obtained the Tobacco Monopoly Production Enterprise License, namely BYD (002594), Jinjia (002191), Shunhao (002565), dongfeng shares (601515) and Xiaoyan (002723).

On July 22nd, Wuxin Technology (parent company of Yueke brand), a leading e-cigarette enterprise, announced that it had been awarded the License of Tobacco Monopoly Enterprise (e-cigarette product manufacturer) by the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau. On August 29th, the official micro-announcement of Wuxin Technology said that the new national standard products of Wuxin Technology began to be sold on the national unified e-cigarette trading management platform.

How much impact does the new e-cigarette regulations have on sales performance? Tianmu journalists called Wuxin Technology, but no response was received before the press release.

Judging from the stock price of US stocks, Wuxin Technology is very bleak. As of September 30 this year, Wuxin Technology quoted $1.03 per share, with a market value of only $1.6 billion. On January 22, 2021, the market value of Wuxin Technology on the first day of listing was as high as 45.8 billion US dollars. .

According to soochow securities Research Report, the short-term income of companies in the e-cigarette industry is under pressure due to the old products going to the warehouse during the policy transition period. Follow-up with the implementation of the "Electronic Cigarette Management Measures" and the new national standard, the industry demand is expected to gradually repair.

Tobacco control experts: the harm of e-cigarettes can not be ignored

According to the regulations, from October 1st, except fruit-flavored electronic cigarettes, solid electronic cigarettes, zero nicotine electronic cigarettes and open electronic cigarettes will be completely removed from the shelves and banned from sale. The national unified e-cigarette trading management platform only provides national standard tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes and smoking sets with child locks.

Tianmu news reporter noticed that "fruit flavor" and "child lock" caused widespread concern on the Internet.

"The merchants developed fruit-flavored e-cigarettes at that time, mainly to attract young people to smoke. China prohibits minors from smoking, including cigarettes and electronic cigarettes. In order to protect minors, it is necessary to ban the sale of fruity electronic cigarettes. " Xu Weihua, deputy director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of Zhejiang Tongde Hospital, told Tianmu News reporter. In addition, the national standard e-cigarette has a child lock, which requires a certain amount of strength and skill to load, and can avoid being used by minors to a certain extent.

Xu Yue, head of the Health Monitoring Section of Zhejiang CDC, also told Tianmu journalists: "The harm of e-cigarettes cannot be ignored. More and more evidence shows that the use of e-cigarettes by minors who have never smoked will at least double the possibility of starting smoking and make them more likely to get addicted to cigarettes. "

Experts said that compared with cigarettes, e-cigarettes appeared for a short time, and people’s understanding of it is not comprehensive enough. Many businesses claim that e-cigarettes can help smokers quit smoking, which is wrong and unscientific.

Xu Yue said: "Using e-cigarettes is as harmful to health as smoking cigarettes. E-cigarette is an electronic nicotine delivery system, which will produce various organic compounds and ultrafine particles during its use, many of which are known toxic and harmful substances. Studies have proved that long-term use of e-cigarettes will lead to nicotine dependence, which may increase the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. "

Xu Weihua analyzed: "The national standard was issued this time because the e-cigarette market is too chaotic, and the use of various additives, including a large amount of propylene glycol or glycerol, is sometimes even more harmful than ordinary cigarettes. Some people think that e-cigarettes can be addicted to cigarettes, but the harm is not so great, and they may relax their vigilance, which is even more unfavorable. "

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