Oct. 10 (NBD) – Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com announced the plan on Wednesday to suspend sales of e-cigarette products in the U.S.

In the announcement, Alibaba said the new sales restriction would take effect on Thursday. According to a customer service staff on the company's global platform, starting from October 15, trade assurance orders to the U.S. will be ceased while those in process would be proceeded.

National Business Daily (NBD) noticed that online e-cigarettes sales in China haven't been influenced with vaping products on Tmall, Taobao and JD.com still in stock.

Tightened regulations over e-cigarettes worldwide

Alibaba and JD.com's ban on export of vaping products to the U.S. is linked to the growing regulatory scrutiny over e-cigarettes in the U.S. On September 11, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a prohibition on flavored e-cigarettes after a spate of deaths caused by vaping-related lung illness.

Photo/Shetuwang

Faced with mounting pressure from the public, Juul, the largest global e-cigarettes maker, has ceased advertising in the U.S. and replaced its CEO for the region. And a number of companies in the U.S. have ended e-cigarette sales. On Monday, U.S. supermarket titan Kroger Co and pharmacy-led firm Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc announced that they would stop selling e-cigarettes at their stores, in line with a similar decision by Walmart last month. 

NBD observed that apart from the U.S., other countries including China, Brazil, Thailand and India also issued bans on the vaping products. As of September 2019, 189 countries and regions have promulgated regulatory measures on e-cigarettes.

"There're a lot of reasons for the move," explained a person with e-cigarette brand YOOZ in a media interview, "such as the fact that e-cigarettes grabbed profits from traditional tobaccos, that companies over-publicize the effects of the emerging products, and that some products contain unhealthy ingredients."

Severe risks lied behind fast development

E-cigarettes have become one of the most sought-after consumer goods in recent days. Since last year, the industry saw huge capital inflows. 

Statistics showcased for the first half of 2019, the e-cigarette industry saw 35 financing rounds, alluring combined investments worth over 1 billion yuan (141.4 million U.S. dollars).

According to a report on the global development of tobaccos, the global sales volume of e-cigarettes reached 14.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2018. 

China's cigarette market reached 5.2 billion yuan last year, up 28.5 percent year on year. Though China is not the biggest consumption market for vaping products, the country produced over 90 percent of the e-cigarettes in the world.

Despite rapid growth of the emerging industry, risks associated with physical health and increased youth use began to surface.

Labeled as a tool for quitting smoking at first though, e-cigarette now is doubted for sham marketing. The latest data from the Centers for the U.S. Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S. revealed vaping-related lung injuries topped 1,000 cases and deaths toll rose to 18.

Moreover, an increasing number of young people started to use e-cigarettes. Take America and China for example, in the U.S., the proportion of teenagers using e-cigarettes rose by 71 percent last year, whilst in China, young people was also the largest contributor to e-cigarette consumption in the year, according to official data. 

Buyers can easily purchase vaping devices and components online. In 2018, 45.4 percent of people aged from 15-24 consuming e-cigarettes bought vaping products via the Internet in China, revealed by a report by China's CDC.  

 

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn

 
Editor: Lan Suying