Center of Studies of Integration and Development, Rua Jardim Botanico 635/906, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22470-050, Brazil.
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Blusson Hall, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada.
Global Health. 2018 Nov 19;14(1):111. doi: 10.1186/s12992-018-0413-2.
Paraguay has reportedly been a major transit hub for illicit tobacco products since the 1960s, initially to supply markets in Argentina and Brazil and, more recently, other regional markets and beyond. However, to date there has been no systematic analysis, notably independent of the tobacco industry, of this trade including the roles of domestic production and transnational tobacco companies (TTCs). This article fills that gap by detailing the history of Paraguay's illicit cigarette trade to Brazil and Argentina of TTC products and Paraguayan production between 1960 and 2003. The effective control of illicit cigarette flows, under Article 15 of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the Protocol to Eliminate the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, requires fuller understanding of the changing nature of the illicit trade.
We systematically searched internal industry documents to understand the activities and strategies of leading TTCs in Paraguay and subregion over time. We also mapped illicit trade volume and patterns using US government and UN data on the cigarette trade involving Paraguay. We then estimated Paraguay's cigarette production from 1989 to 2003 using tobacco leaf flows from the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade).
We identify four phases in the illicit tobacco trade involving Paraguay: 1) Paraguay as a transit hub to smuggle BAT and PMI cigarettes from the U.S. into Argentina and Brazil (from the 1960s to the mid-1970s); 2) BAT and PMI competing in north-east Argentina (1989-1994); 3) BAT and PMI competing in southern and southern-east Brazil (mid to late 1990s); and 4) the growth in the illicit trade of Paraguayan manufactured cigarettes (from the mid- 1990s onwards). These phases suggest the illicit trade was seeded by TTCs, and that the system of supply and demand on lower priced brands they developed in the 1990s created a business opportunity for manufacturing in Paraguay. Brazil's efforts to fight this trade, with a 150% tax on exports to Latin American countries in 1999, further prompted supply of the illicit trade to shift from TTCs to Paraguayan manufacturers.
This paper extends evidence of the longstanding complicity of TTCs in the illicit trade to this region and the consequent growth of Paraguayan production in the 1990s. Our findings confirm the need to better understand the factors influencing how the illicit tobacco trade has changed over time, in specific regional contexts, and amid tobacco industry globalization. In Paraguay, the changing roles of TTC and domestic production have been central to shifting patterns of illicit supply and distribution since the 1960s. Important questions are raised, in turn, about TTCs efforts to participate as legitimate partners in global efforts to combat the problem, including a leading role in data gathering and analysis.
自 20 世纪 60 年代以来，巴拉圭据报道一直是非法烟草制品的主要中转枢纽，最初是为了供应阿根廷和巴西的市场，最近则是为了供应其他地区市场和其他地区的市场。然而，迄今为止，还没有对这种贸易进行系统的分析，特别是没有烟草业以外的独立分析，其中包括国内生产和跨国烟草公司（TTCs）的作用。本文通过详细描述 TTC 产品在巴拉圭向巴西和阿根廷非法销售香烟的历史以及 1960 年至 2003 年期间巴拉圭国内生产的历史，填补了这一空白。《世界卫生组织烟草控制框架公约》（WHO FCTC）第 15 条和《消除烟草制品非法贸易议定书》要求有效控制非法香烟流动，这需要更充分地了解非法贸易性质的变化。
我们系统地搜索了内部行业文件，以了解 TTC 在巴拉圭及周边地区随时间推移的活动和策略。我们还使用美国政府和联合国关于涉及巴拉圭香烟贸易的数据，绘制了非法贸易量和模式。然后，我们使用联合国商品贸易统计数据库（UN Comtrade）中的烟叶流量，估计了巴拉圭 1989 年至 2003 年的香烟产量。
我们确定了涉及巴拉圭的非法烟草贸易的四个阶段：1）巴拉圭作为将英美烟草公司和菲利普莫里斯国际公司的香烟从美国走私到阿根廷和巴西的中转枢纽（20 世纪 60 年代至 70 年代中期）；2）英美烟草公司和菲利普莫里斯国际公司在阿根廷东北部竞争（1989-1994 年）；3）英美烟草公司和菲利普莫里斯国际公司在巴西南部和东南部竞争（90 年代中期至后期）；4）巴拉圭制造的香烟非法贸易的增长（20 世纪 90 年代中期以来）。这些阶段表明，非法贸易是由 TTC 引发的，他们在 90 年代发展的低价品牌的供需体系为巴拉圭的制造业创造了商机。巴西于 1999 年对出口到拉丁美洲国家的香烟征收 150%的税，这进一步促使非法贸易的供应从 TTC 转移到巴拉圭制造商。
本文将 TTC 长期以来参与非法贸易的证据扩展到该地区，并证实了 90 年代巴拉圭生产的增长。我们的研究结果证实，有必要更好地了解影响非法烟草贸易随时间变化的因素，特别是在特定的区域背景下，并在烟草业全球化的背景下。自 20 世纪 60 年代以来，TTC 和国内生产的角色变化一直是巴拉圭非法供应和分销模式变化的核心。反过来，这也引发了关于 TTC 作为合法合作伙伴参与打击这一问题的全球努力的重要问题，包括在数据收集和分析方面发挥主导作用。
