Tobacco : The six sisters

 (fonte: The tobacco atlas, della World Lung Foundation).

The six sisters 

It is a treasure in the hands of the few groups that also have the power diinfluenzare economic and political choices in different countries around the world. Six Big are the China National Tobacco Corporation, a state monopoly (the cigarettes in the world are mostly manufactured in China, which has 43% of the global market); Philip Morris, whose legendary Marlboro are the most widely distributed brand, with 16.4% of the market. With a difference of only one percentage point is Bat, British american tobacco, another big which has offices around the world. Finally, following the Japan Tobacco International, the Imperial Tobacco and Altadis.

 (fonte: WHO, Organizzazione mondiale della Sanità).

Other primates smoke 

Financial results are a thousand a night due to the fact that cigarettes (and other tobacco products such as cigars, maps, snuff) are also the most advertised products among consumer goods. On the other hand the big gains are standing on a marketing expense is difficult to quantify, but that is around tens of billions of dollars a year. Only in the United States, for example, are about 10 billion spent each year on advertising for cigarettes (in a period in which the advertising was banned on TV and radio, along with other prohibitions). 

Yet according to data from WHO, the average annual expenditure on promotion of multinational companies is around $ 200 per smoker. Where have spent all this money? The media today are very diverse, but generally revolve around forms of sponsorship or direct promotion of sporting events, art, fashion, adventure travel, in addition to the evergreen method of product placement in movies and now also on the web. Not to mention the so-called charity, that is, the presence charity events and the birth of icons like the Marlboro man, the king of adventure, one of the myths of the twentieth century.

(fonte: WHO, Organizzazione mondiale della Sanità).

The economic lever 

To produce this treasure are about two million workers in the world, of which 2/3 in China, which is the largest grower of tobacco together with India, Brazil and Indonesia (see the distribution of cigarette factories in the world by The tobacco atlas). 

In recent years there has been a greater spread in Eastern Europe and in many developing countries in Africa and Asia. The reason is related to the very low labor costs, lower controls on the use of pesticides (which cause damage to the health of those who work and live) and the monoculture that impoverishes the soil. So much so that the cultivation of tobacco in some countries has become the leading voice of GDP: the case of Malawi, a country in southeastern Africa where there has been a jump in earnings from exports 50-70 per cent between 2007 and 2008. Until the result of the boom in 2010, the year in which it was the world's largest producer of burley tobacco. A problem for the country at a time when there should be a decline, the economy would come heavily in crisis because there is no alternative, and it is on this that leverage the Big Six. 

This kind of leverage is well known in European countries that grow tobacco, precisely because of relocation, in fact. It is for example the case of Italy, where the decline in production of burley tobacco has led to a recent agreement between the Coldiretti Tuscany, Veneto, Umbria and Campania (the Italian regions of tobacco) with Philip Morris to Italy for a "production km 0 ", which ultimately saved more than 50 thousand jobs. 

What is behind a cigarette? Mind-boggling. Starting from 6 trillion (6.000 billion) in cigarettes manufactured in the world, a number - astronomical - that alone can give an idea of the business of smoking. And is increasing exponentially: 13% more than 10 years ago. On the other hand, smokers are also on the rise: according to data from WHO in 2050 will be around 2.2 billion, more dramatic increase since the previous research (2010) recorded 1.4 billion "smokers". 

Numbers also increased because the tobacco companies have no qualms to capture even the very young: for example, in the U.S. market share of less than 18 years of one of the most famous brands of cigarettes has risen from less than 1% to 33% in three years thanks to a campaign that saw it as a comic book hero. 

These numbers will rise even more a turnover already hundreds of billions of dollars each year: the profitability of tobacco consumption in 2010 was 346.2 billion dollars, for a net profit of 35.1 billion. To give you an idea, you get the same amount if you add up the profits in 2010, Coca-Cola, Microsoft and McDonald's, the other three giants (source: The tobacco atlas, World Lung Foundation).