Alibaba International Station Bans the Sale of E-cigs From May 1

On Thursday, Alibaba International Station announced that it will ban the sale of e-cigarettes starting May 1, 2022. The ban will include cartridges, smoking sets and products sold in combination with cartridges and smoking sets as well as accessories, atomizers, nicotine for e-cigarettes and other related products.

In March this year, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration of China announced the promulgation of the Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes, which will come into force on May 1 2022. Regarding sales management, the document mentioned that it is forbidden to sell e-cigarettes to minors. If it is difficult to distinguish whether they are minors, they should be required to show their identity cards. It is forbidden to sell e-cigarettes without tobacco and e-cigarettes that can have atomizers added.

SEE ALSO: China Tightens Controls on E-Cigarettes

After the document was issued, many e-cigarette brands said that they will actively implement the regulatory requirements and stop the production of e-cigarettes with fruit flavors in the domestic market. Therefore, under the new regulations, the prices of e-cigarettes have been rising. Many brands raised the price of their e-cigarettes with various fruit and soda flavors, with prices increasing between 20 yuan ($3.14) to 30 yuan ($4.71).

According to a report released by iiMedia Research, the retail sales of the global new tobacco market reached 360.5 billion yuan in 2021, an overall increase of 25.6%, while China’s domestic sales increased by 73%. In addition, according to the Blue Book of the Electronic Cigarette Industry in 2021, in terms of export, the total output value of electronic cigarettes has reached 138.3 billion yuan, and there are more than 1,500 electronic cigarette manufacturers in China.