Challenges facing the tobacco industry are the focus of events at Expointer 2025

The impact of US tariffs on tobacco exports, preparations for the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), and the regulation of Electronic Smoking Devices (ESDs) were highlighted at meetings held in Esteio, Rio Grande do Sul. Representatives of regional and state organizations, authorities, and leaders participated in the meetings held at the Assis Brasil Exhibition Park, where the 48th Expointer is taking place, to discuss these and other topics of interest to the tobacco production chain, a sector that drives the economy of 206 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul and involves 267 people in rural areas in Rio Grande do Sul alone.

Tobacco Exports and the Impact of the US Tariff

About to complete a month in effect, the additional 50% tariff on Brazilian tobacco destined for the US was one of the highlights of SindiTabaco president Valmor Thesing's speech at the National Tobacco Production Chain Seminar, hosted by Abifumo. In 2024, tobacco exports to the US represented 9% of Brazilian shipments.

"The industry has tried to anticipate shipments as much as possible, but we still have around 16 tons awaiting a solution. It's unfeasible for the American customer to absorb an additional 50% tariff. We've been working to raise awareness within the government to reverse the situation because, if this doesn't happen, we will inevitably see pressure on tobacco prices in the next harvest," commented Thesing. 

Regulation of DEFs

"I hope we don't have to see a tragedy to understand the need for regulation." Federal Deputy Heitor Schuch, a panelist at Campo em Debate: From the present to the future of the tobacco sector, an event held by BAT Brasil and the Parliamentary Front for Family Agriculture of the Chamber of Deputies at Casa RBS, highlighted the urgency of regulating electronic smoking devices (ESDs).

In Brazil, DEFs have been banned since 2009. Even so, the consumption of smuggled products has increased significantly in recent years, rising from 500 consumers in 2018 to 3 million in 2023 (Ipec). The lack of regulation means consumers end up using smuggled products that lack any health inspections or product liability.

"We're seeing the consumption of a product without any regulation; we don't know what's in these products. Anvisa needs to be notified. All these products being consumed are smuggled. The drug traffickers are the ones who are grateful," commented Schuch.

Transparency at COP 11

Specially mentioned by members of parliament attending the events, COP 11 was highlighted at the Joint Public Hearing, held by the Committee on Agriculture, Livestock, Supply and Rural Development of the Chamber of Deputies and the Subcommittee on Tobacco Sector Defense and COP11 Monitoring of the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Sul. The meeting was held on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 4, at the Legislative Assembly House within Expointer Park.

Historically, industry representatives have been barred from attending debates, not even as listeners. The press from tobacco-producing regions has also been censored in these forums, barred from accessing the conference, which industry representatives have called the "world's greatest anti-democratic mechanism." Parliamentarians are also mobilizing to change this situation.

State Representative Marcus Vinicius heads the Subcommittee and spoke about the need to ensure the participation of Brazilian parliamentarians in the event taking place in November in Switzerland. He said that unlike COP 30, which is a debate, COP 11 is a trial, and the tobacco industry has been placed in the dock without the right to counsel or witnesses.

"COP 11 is a public forum, funded by public money. The Brazilian government signed the Framework Convention 20 years ago, an institutional error on the part of our country. Since then, Brazil has been financing these events, relying on regulations that have no legal force but are used by organizers to block the participation of the production chain. And we're not demanding the opportunity to express our opinions, only to attend," he commented, recalling previous editions in which parliamentarians, and even members of the Brazilian press, were expelled from events and even threatened with arrest.

The congressman mentioned that Brazil is also a signatory to the American Convention on Human Rights, known as the Pact of San José de Costa Rica, which provides for freedom of the press and the free participation of parliamentarians in public forums.

"This is truly absurd, and we can no longer accept it. We hope we can persuade the Ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs to open this space. If this doesn't happen, the institutional and legal remedy being considered by the representatives is the possibility of legal action. In other words, seeking a preliminary injunction to allow the Brazilian press to participate as listeners so that, above all, the Brazilian press can access, hear, and broadcast to the Brazilian population what is being discussed in this closed, biased, authoritarian, and dictatorial environment that the COP has been in recent years," the representative argued during the events.

Relevance to agriculture 

The importance of tobacco among Rio Grande do Sul's agribusiness segments was also evident at Expointer. Between January and July of this year, shipments already exceeded 270 tons, with foreign exchange revenues 20,8% higher than in the same period last year, totaling US$1,74 billion. Of this amount, almost all was shipped through the Port of Rio Grande.

In the field, according to the Brazilian Tobacco Growers Association (Afubra), the production chain involves more than 138 tobacco-producing families in the South of the country. The nearly 720 tons produced in the 2024/25 harvest generated approximately R$14,58 billion, an amount that drives other sectors in the 525 tobacco-producing municipalities in southern Brazil.