The estimates were revealed by the Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee, and the association’s secretary Ao Weinuo, said that the combination of the media scrutiny in the US, and online e-cig sales ban in China have caused the demand for the products to drop.
The trade association’s chair and founder of vape company Sigilei, Ou Junbiao, said that his company has to reduce the number of employees by half.
Similarly, an article on OAN explained that factories in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, where approximately 90% of the world’s e-cigarettes are made by a workforce of approximately 500,000 people, have had to slow production and let stuff go.
EVALI panic
A statement released last month by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and State Administration for Market Regulation, had announced that all websites and apps selling e-cigarettes will be shut down and all online marketing campaigns halted.
Additionally, earlier this month, a number of Chinese government bodies including China’s National Health Bureau, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the domestic tobacco monopoly China Tobacco, joined forces in calling for a ban on the use of e-cigarettes in public spaces.
Sadly, these actions have come in response to all the panic surrounding vaping products as a result of the EVALI outbreak in the US. Last September, Juul products were taken off Chinese e-commerce sites Tmall and JD.com, only after being launched days before.
Read Further: OAN
