Since April 1, Russia has implemented an "honest labeling" policy to regulate the e-cigarette market, requiring trading activities of wholesale imports of e-cigarettes to upload the retail information of related products to the honest labeling system. E-cigarette products without labels will not be able to pass Russian customs smoothly.
With more than half a year having passed since the official implementation of the "honest label" system, the two supreme officials learned about the latest situation of the Russian e-cigarette market from Wang Juncheng, general manager of Russia's local customs clearance company, Russian Suqing, on November 20.
Wang Juncheng said that the Russian market now has a large demand for compliant products, and due to policy reasons, there are currently few gray channels that can enter the market. Moreover, since August, the transportation time of some gray customs goods has been extended from about 30 days to 2 to 3 months.
Russian compliant logistics companies have seen a significant increase in transport volumes over the past two months. Wang Juncheng revealed that the number of customs clearance tickets issued by Russian Express has been 3 to 4 times more than before. In addition, the logistics costs of compliant e-cigarettes are also rising, currently rising from more than 30 yuan per kilogram to more than 40 yuan.
He pointed out that the main reason for the increase in freight volume of compliant logistics companies is the sharp increase in demand from e-cigarette terminal stores and distribution stores. In the Russian e-cigarette market, most terminal stores, supermarket chains and dealers only accept compliant products. Although some stores may sell both compliant and non-compliant products, the shelf rate of compliant products is gradually increasing, with the lowest proportion reaching 50%.
Wang Juncheng reminded that due to the high value and tax of compliant products, it is difficult to transport them on a large scale like gray custom products, and only small batches can be transported. In addition, the procedures for applying for honesty labels for compliant products are relatively cumbersome, and it also takes a long time to ensure compliance channels in logistics, distribution and stores. Therefore, he said that if a company wants to put products on the shelves in compliance with the regulations in the Russian market, it needs to make full preparations at least three months in advance.
In addition, Wang Juncheng also revealed that as far as he knows, Russia will increase the tax on e-cigarette oil in early 2024, and by then, the cost of e-cigarette products will double.
