A report by China’s state media outlet Xinhua highlighting the harm of e-cigarette products has caused stock prices to fall. On Wednesday, Xinhua reported that some e-cigarette companies are targetting minors.
In 2018, China introduced a series of regulations on the e-cigarette industry and e-cigarettes were removed from all e-commerce platforms a year later. Xinhua’s reporter searched for “e-cigarettes” and “cigarette bombs” on multiple e-commerce platforms and found no relevant results. However, some individual WeChat sellers are still running an undercover e-cigarette business online.
Following the reports, shares in RLX Technology Inc, China’s leading e-cigarette brand, Smoore International Holdings Ltd and China Boton Group Co Ltd dropped according to Reuters. Investors are concerned that this could lead to more regulations in the industry.
Shares in liquor companies also fell on Thursday after the Ministry of Science and Technology posted an article which linked cancer to the consumption of alcohol.
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