Abstract
Recent research documents the globalization strategy of the Chinese tobacco industry since the early 2000s and risks posed to global health. There are limited analyses to date of how this strategy is playing out in specific countries. This paper analyses the expansion of the China National Tobacco Company (CNTC) in Zimbabwe, the largest producer of tobacco leaf globally, since the early 2000s, through document analysis. It applies a political economy framework—identifying material, ideational and institutional forces—to demonstrate how CNTC capitalized on the unique features of China-Africa development cooperation to pursue its expansion goals, which threaten global public health efforts to reduce tobacco supply. In a context of economic crisis, CNTC offered substantial resources to revive Zimbabwe’s tobacco industry, promoting a shift to contract farming of its preferred leaf. It benefited from perceptions of state friendship, which it fostered through corporate social responsibility initiatives. Through ties with the Chinese embassy and economic actors, CNTC embedded its interests in development institutions. While contributing to improved foreign exchange earnings and some farmers’ livelihoods, CNTC’s expansion has increased the dependence on China as a development partner and tobacco as a crop, benefitting its “go global” strategy, while contributing to public health and environmental challenges locally and globally. The expansion of the Chinese tobacco industry interests in Zimbabwe offers lessons for global tobacco control and efforts to support alternatives to tobacco growing.
Highlights
China is the largest tobacco market in the world, with one-third of the world’s smokers consuming40% of global cigarette production [1]
As one of the only development partners willing to invest in Zimbabwe in the early 2000s, China emerged as the ideal partner to revive its tobacco industry, through the establishment of Tian Ze Tobacco Company (TZTC) to procure flue-cured tobacco for the vast
Favorable conditions, including the backing of the Chinese government, close bilateral ties, and alignment of political goals, have allowed TZTC to become one of the major stakeholders in the Zimbabwean tobacco industry. This has created a context where farmers are increasingly dependent on tobacco as a crop, and the government is dependent on China as an export destination
Summary
China is the largest tobacco market in the world, with one-third of the world’s smokers consuming. 40% of global cigarette production [1]. The market is controlled by the China National Tobacco. Corporation (CNTC), a state-owned monopoly and the world’s largest tobacco company. Beginning in the early 2000s, the Chinese tobacco industry underwent restructuring and rationalization, consolidated its brand portfolio, developed new brands for foreign markets, and expanded overseas leaf procurement operations. In 2007, CNTC officially announced its “go global”. By 2019, CNTC was operating dozens of subsidiaries worldwide with the aim of creating and supplying foreign markets [2]. Evidence of a shift in business strategy by the Chinese tobacco industry, towards the pursuit of foreign suppliers and markets, raises profound implications for global tobacco control
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