China's cigarette output soars despite tobacco control

BEIJING -- China's anti-smoking efforts in the past decade have failed to limit the explosive growth of the country's cigarette producers, according to a new report.

Annual cigarette production in the world's most populous country has jumped 50 percent across the decade, with about 2.175 trillion cigarettes produced in the 12 months to October, showed "Tobacco Control in China from a Civil Society Perspective 2013" on Tuesday.

The latest finding echoed a similar new assessment by the World Health Organization (WHO), under which China is rated low among more than 100 countries that have joined the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control over the past five years.

The assessment awarded China two of a possible 16 points on public smoking control, and zero points on tobacco advertising control. This means China's years of anti-smoking efforts have had almost no results. Moreover, the country's tobacco tax rate, now standing at 43.4 percent, is still too low as compared to the world average, the assessment noted.

The Chinese government signed the Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003, vowing to reduce tobacco use from then on.

China has a total of 300 million smokers, while 740 million others are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke, according to data from the National Health and Family Planning Commission.