Russian Customs Clearance Company: A Significant Increase in Demand For Compliant E-cigarette Products Requires Preparation Three Months in Advance For Listing

Wang Juncheng, the general manager of Russian customs clearance company Russian Express, reminded that if a company wishes to have products listed in the Russian market in compliance, it needs to make sufficient preparations at least three months in advance.
Since April 1st, Russia has implemented a "honest labeling" policy to regulate the electronic cigarette market, requiring wholesale import of electronic cigarettes to upload retail information of related products to the honest labeling system. Electronic cigarette products without labels will not be able to pass through Russian customs smoothly.
With the official implementation of the "honest label" system more than half a year ago, according to customs clearance companies, there is a high demand for compliant products in the Russian market, and due to policy reasons, there are currently few gray customs channels available in the market. Moreover, since August, the transportation time of some gray customs goods has been extended from around 30 days to 2-3 months.
In the past two months, the transportation volume of Russian compliant logistics companies has significantly increased. The number of customs clearance votes for Russian Express has also increased by 3-4 times compared to before. In addition, the logistics cost of compliant e-cigarettes is also increasing, currently increasing from over 30 yuan per kilogram to over 40 yuan.
The customs clearance company pointed out that the main reason for the increase in freight volume of compliant logistics providers is the sharp increase in demand for e-cigarette terminal stores and distribution stores. In the Russian e-cigarette market, most end stores, chain supermarkets, and distributors only accept compliant products. Although some stores may sell both compliant and non compliant products, the listing rate of compliant products is gradually increasing, with the lowest proportion reaching 50%.
Due to the high value and taxes of compliant products, they are difficult to transport on a large scale like gray customs products, and can only be transported in small batches. In addition, the process of applying for honest labeling for compliant products is relatively cumbersome, and ensuring compliance channels for logistics, distribution, and stores also takes a long time. Therefore, he stated that if a company wishes to comply with the listing of products in the Russian market, it needs to be fully prepared at least 3 months in advance.
In addition, it is reported that Russia will raise the tobacco oil tax in early 2024, which will double the cost of electronic cigarette products.