Japan Tobacco to exit Xiamen JV

Japan Tobacco, which holds the rights to produce Camels, said it is selling its 50% in its Xiamen joint venture with state-owned Xiamen Cigarette Factory. The JV currently produces the brand, which has become the subject of a dispute which Japan Tobacco plans to overcome by exporting Camels from Japan. The company is pulling out after regulators have begun easing foreign entry into the world's biggest smoking market by population. There are an estimated 350 million smokers in China, making for a US$31 billion market. Japan Tobacco will face the prospect of a 25% duty on cigarettes shipped into China, but that is down from the 65% tariffs imports carried last year. In July, British American Tobacco received the go-head to build a 100-billion cigarette capacity plant.