Relx has launched its new application service called Relx Asia. The company says it wants to strengthen its foothold in Hong Kong’s electronic cigarette market. It intends to expand its business into additional parts of Asia, including Korea, Taiwan, India, and Indonesia. However, it will first focus on the Chinese mainland market. It will start with Hong Kong.
Relx, among China by leading by cigarette companies, is looking to file its patent with the US by the end of next year. Relx, based in the largest of cigarette manufacturing hub Shenzhen, also has established a research and development team to work hard on the new application process. This is expected to be released after three to four years. Relx Asia, which also has plans to launch a retail chain of electronic cigarette products, will start offering the product in Hong Kong stores by the end of this year.
The company claims that it has become one of the top five of cigarette brands in Hong Kong. The newest addition to the relx line-up is the nicotine gum. It is reported that the demand for the gum has been so great that it has run out of stock within two weeks of relx announcing it. The gum can only be purchased from the company website or through a licensed channel. It is believed that the relx gum could challenge Zyban, the leader in the nicotine gum market, in the long run.
In July last year, Chinese officials announced that the number of smokers in China had hit an astonishing one billion. The estimate was slightly higher than the number of smokers in America. This made the statement all the more significant as it showed that the vast majority of smokers in China are adults. Smoking prevalence figures like these make the likelihood of the government’s claim that it will successfully implement its plan to ban all relx of cigarettes in China much higher.
The ban on smoking in public places has caused a surge in the sales of electronic cigarettes. It has been reported that relx distributors have been inundated with orders for the new e smokes since July. According to estimates, the numbers of smokers who have tried to vaporize cigarettes and have not got hooked on to them is about six percent. It is also thought that the number of future smokers in China will rise drastically once the ban on smoking is implemented fully. It is estimated that more than one million smokers have already tried Vaporizing cigarettes and have not relapsed to their bad habits.
As the demand for the electronic cigarettes has been very high, the demand for the relx distributors has also been quite high. Many Chinese businessmen who have been setting up their own e cigarette shops have been forced to shift to bigger outlets or hire more personnel as there has been an immense rush for their services. There is a rumour that the Chinese authorities fear the relx industry might grow too big and out of control and thus they are going to restrict it now. It is believed that these restriction will be implemented from next month and will be enforced progressively.
So what is the reason behind the Chinese authorities restricting the sale and distribution of relx? One theory is that the booming e cigarette business in China will lead to a serious rise in the cases of youth taking tobacco. The Chinese believe that this kind of trade is harmful to their country’s youth. They are trying to reduce the number of smokers to a level which is safe for the population as a whole.
Another theory is that the booming e cigarette business will also mean that the number of youth who start smoking cigarettes will increase next year, causing an increase in their cases of lung cancer and other diseases. If the government comes down hard on relx then the whole electronic cigarette industry will suffer. But there are a lot of rumors going around at the moment and most of them are just that, rumors. So far the rumors are all negative but in next two months we will see whether or not the Chinese government will be restricting the sale of relx.
