ABU DHABI – Philip Morris International (PMI) continues to leverage technology and innovation as its ramps up the shift of over a billion smokers worldwide to smoke-free products.
Frederic de Wilde, president for South and Southeast Asia at PM, told Filipino journalists on the sidelines of the Technovation: Smoke-Free summit held here that the Philippines is a fundamental country in tobacco harm regulation and a champion nation in pushing for smoke-free alternatives.
He said there are only several countries in the world that have e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn and nicotine pouches.
PMI has deployed several smoke-free products in the Philippines including IQOS devices and accessories, HEETS (consumable sticks for IQOS, Bonds and Blends) and oral nicotine product Zyn.
“And fundamentally, we need countries that have endorsed tobacco harm reduction, that have translated this concept. They’ve understood it, they’ve translated it in regulation. We need these countries to be examples for the others. For all these reasons, Philippines for us is a fundamental country,” De Wilde added.
He pointed out that PMI usually uses the Philippines and Indonesia in his presentations to the PMI board.
Unlike in the Philippines, he said PMI has difficulties in engaging markets in countries that have banned alternative smoke-free products.
“(The) Philippines is an example of a champion country. A country that has embedded in the regulation tobacco harm reduction. A country that has created separate categories for these products that are very different from the ones that are combusted, the cigarettes,” De Wilde said.
He also cited the decision of the Philippine government to impose excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products.
“Not only Philippines regulators have done a great job to adhere to this new and progressive way of looking at the tobacco business, (The) Philippines also has been pretty vocal internationally. It’s not only thinking about their own smokers,” he added.
In his presentation titled Embracing Emerging Markets for a Smoke-free Future, De Wilde said emerging markets like the Philippines is one of the key growth areas in the shift to smoke-free alternatives.
Data showed the share of heated tobacco units offtake in the Philippines has increased by 1.1 percentage points to four percent as of the third quarter of this year, making the country a key growth area in the region.
PMI is present in 67 emerging markets and its smoke-free products are available in 27 markets.
In a separate interview with the Philippine media, PMIS president for smoke-free inhalable products and consumer officer Stefano Volpetti said the company would continue to deliver the best technology for Filipino consumers to help them embrace smoke-free products.
“First, we need to make sure that that product will really work. We need to give to the Filipino consumer the best technology. Because if that product doesn’t work, they will not be forgiven,” Volpetti said.
In the discussion on PMI’s multi-category portfolio, Volpetti said there are 92 markets worldwide where its smoke-free products are available.
According to Volpetti there are an estimated 36.5 million users of PMI’s smoke-free alternatives. Of the total, 30.8 percent are from IQOS, followed by oral smoke-free products with 5.2 percent and e-vapor with 0.8 percent.
As of the third quarter, he said about 38 percent of PMI’s net revenues come from smoke-free products. In 25 markets, 50 percent of net revenues are produced by smoke-free alternatives.
PMI aims to raise the share to two-thirds or 66.6 percent of total revenues by 2030.
During the event, PMI CEO Jacek Olczak reaffirmed the company’s commitment to a smoke-free world by prioritizing smoke-free alternatives where it has invested $12.5 billion since 2008.
Since 2016, Olczak said PMI has been strengthening its commitment to delivering a smoke-free future. It introduced the first heat-not-burn platform in Japan and Italy in 2014.