The world’s largest tobacco company, Philip Morris International (PMI), is developing cheaper smoke-free products in a bid to offer alternatives to existing African smokers, according to a senior executive at the US multinational.
Speaking at the firm’s Technovation event in Abu Dhabi, Fred De Wilde, PMI’s president for South and Southeast Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Middle East, and Africa region, said that Africa’s fledgling but price-sensitive smoke-free market offers opportunities for the S&P 100 firm.
“Africa definitely has a role to play and we are committed to coming up with smoke-free products to offer alternatives to African smokers,” he says.
However, he says that the price points of the PMI’s smoke-free products remain out of reach for many consumers on the continent.
“If you look at the smoke-free products we first launched, it’s a premium device retailing at a premium price. In some economies we’ve managed to penetrate pretty well but in many of the countries in my region only 5-10% of consumers can afford it,” he says.
To address this cost barrier in Africa and other developing economies, PMI is developing cheaper smoke-free products, De Wilde says.
“We’re innovating in the heat-not-burn front where we’re piloting a new simple device that is less expensive and targeted for medium and low price segments. We also have lineups in the e-cigarette fronts. This could become one of the biggest successes for smoke free alternatives in developing economies,” he notes.
Marlboro owner plans smoke-free future
In 2016, PMI, which owns a portfolio of major global cigarette brands – including Marlboro outside the US and Canada – announced its plan to replace cigarettes in all its markets with smoke-free products. Since 2008, the company has invested over $12.5bn in research and development into smoke-free products, which it aims to account for two-thirds of its total revenue by 2030.
Among its smoke-free product lineup is its flagship IQOS, a heated tobacco product that releases a nicotine-containing aerosol without burning the tobacco. Nicotine pouch manufacturer Swedish Match, which PMI acquired in 2022, is another part of its smoke-free portfolio, which De Wilde says is driving interest among developing economy consumers.
According to the company’s earnings release for the third quarter, the smoke-free business accounted for 38% of the company’s total net revenues. Quarterly shipments of smoke-free products, available in 92 markets, reached close to 40 billion units, the firm said. Meanwhile, the firm accounted for 24.2% of the international cigarette market in the third quarter and shipped 163.2 billion cigarette units, an increase of 1.3% on the third quarter of the previous year.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 1.3 billion people globally smoke cigarettes. Despite the well-documented health risks associated with smoking, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that fewer than one in ten adult smokers manage to quit each year.
The number of tobacco smokers in the WHO’s African region was estimated at 52 million in 2000 but increased to 66 million in 2015 and is projected to increase to 84 million in 2025, according to a 2022 paper in the British Medical Journal, making the region one of the only two regions in the world projected to have an increase in the number of tobacco smokers.
Winning over sceptical regulators
Despite promising market opportunities for PMI’s smoke-free products in Africa, the policy and regulatory landscape on the continent remains challenging. The environment is fragmented, with each country adopting its own approach to tobacco regulation.
Additionally, some policymakers remain ambivalent about smoke-free alternatives, often categorising them alongside traditional cigarettes.
“What I see in Africa and some developing economies is that governments are banning these products even before they are launched,” De Wilde says.
Even when the products are allowed into the market, challenges still persist because of how regulators view smoke-free products, he adds.
“Authorities have not yet put into the regulations the overall harm reduction equation, so very often they let these products come to the market but they treat them like cigarettes.”
Winning trust with regulators demands education about smoke-free products, De Wilde says.
“Very often we hear people say there is no science, or there is no independent science. Actually it is not correct. The people saying that should take the time to review the science that is publicly available,” he argues.
“Eleven independent state authorities have reviewed our science, including the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the US, which granted a modified risk tobacco product authorisation in the US.”
The UK’s National Health Service says that using e-cigarettes – otherwise known as vaping – “is not completely risk-free, but it poses a small fraction of the risk of smoking cigarettes…E-cigarettes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke. The liquid and vapour contain some potentially harmful chemicals also found in cigarette smoke, but at a much lower level.”
However, it adds that “the long-term risks of vaping are not yet clear.”
New products for existing smokers
De Wilde notes that another crucial aspect of gaining African regulators’ trust is to clearly communicate that these are not new products aimed at attracting new consumers. Instead, they are products that have been around for a decade and are designed for existing smokers, he says, with the goal of reducing the health risks they currently face.
“These are new products for the existing smokers. When we engage with regulators and they realise the size of the population we’re talking about – the smokers – they become more receptive,” he says.
De Wilde contends that raising awareness, initially among authorities and subsequently among consumers, is crucial for encouraging more African smokers to switch to alternatives. He argues that this effort requires relaxing marketing restrictions on smoke-free alternatives, which he says should not be classified in the same category as traditional cigarettes.
“Informing people is the first stage. We can do our part there but authorities can help. When people are aware of the damages that smoking can cause, they need to be aware of the new alternatives.”
“To be aware of the new alternatives, we need to at least have the marketing freedom to talk to them, to interact with them, to let them try the product and to follow up for a couple of weeks with them,” he concludes.
