An e-cigarette counter in a shopping mall in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China, September 30, 2022. /CFP
China will impose a consumption tax on e-cigarettes from November, according to a joint statement released Tuesday by the country's Ministry of Finance, General Administration of Customs, and State Taxation Administration.
The tax rate on the production or import of e-cigarettes will be 36 percent and that on wholesale distribution will be 11 percent, the statement said.
By the end of 2021, China's e-cigarette market was worth 19.7 billion yuan ($2.7 billion), with year-on-year growth of 36 percent, and there were more than 1,500 e-cigarette makers or related companies in the country, according to data from The Electronic Cigarette Professional Committee of China Electronic Chamber of Commerce.
China is the world's largest e-cigarette maker and exporter – more than 95 percent of e-cigarettes and related products are made in China, of which 70 percent are produced in Shenzhen, Securities Times reported in June, quoting a local official.
In response to the rapid growth of the e-cigarette industry, China has updated its regulations for the booming new sector.
The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA), the country's cigarette market supervisor, announced in September that from October 1 this year, e-cigarette market entities must obtain a license to continue making and selling their products.