‘Deeming’ vs. OTP—The Winner Is …

PITTSBURGH -- If left unchanged, the FDA “deeming” rules will affect other tobacco products (OTP) to a degree, but not as harshly as other segments within the tobacco category for convenience-store retailers, according to a recently released report.

In a study tracking unit-shipping movement, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s deeming regulations will possibly affect only 5% of the OTP volume c-store retailers sell, compared to other more hard-hit categories such as cigars (49%) and vapor (100%).

Still, the study from Pittsburgh-based Management Science Associates (MSA) released last fall says snus will be one of the hardest-hit segments within OTP. Here are a few OTP insights from the study …

Though representing only 2% of overall nicotine volume, snus as a segment of OTP will potentially be hit hard by new FDA rules at 8% of its unit volume, according to MSA estimates.

While the largest percentage of total OTP nicotine volume at 8%, only 5% of moist volume will potentially fall under new FDA rule changes.

While representing less than a percent of total nicotine volume, loose-leaf tobacco volume will sustain as hard a blow as snus at 8%, say MSA estimates.

At 5%, how much the FDA rules will affect OTP volume is small compared to the overall category. The new rules will affect 49% of cigar volumes and 100% of vapor products.