The Tobacco Global Value Chain in Low-Income Countries

This research was prepared on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Secretariat and the Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), with the goal of mapping the tobacco global value chain. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and are not to be taken as the official views of the WHO, FCTC, the UNCTAD secretariat, or its Member States. The report is based on secondary research, including a comprehensive literature review and data analysis. UN Comtrade, Euromonitor, FAOSTAT, WITS, and other databases were used to identify trends in tobacco production, trade, and demand and to develop the global value chain analysis. Recommendations on trade policy, diversification, and crop substitution are based on existing case studies and other literature