December Round Up - Vape Imports go up in smoke

Welcome to edition 8 of The Consumer Rumour, apologies about the missing November edition but November and December were hectic! The December round up covers the 2024 vaping laws, Asahi Beverages new CEO, 百事 feeling the pinch from the Australian Taxation Office , India is emerging in the global whiskey scene and BWS and DoorDash deliver the goods!

1. On January 1st Australia made it illegal to import disposable vapes and distribute them. Personally I am on board with this from an environmental standpoint, the jury is still out from a health perspective! Is this a breath of fresh air for AU, or is this suffocating a potentially healthier cigarette substitute. Check out the full story from Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) here.

2. Asahi Beverages Oceania announces the appointment their first female CEO after 6 months holding the role in the interim. Amanda Sellers joined the business as CFO around 5 years ago as CFO and from Atsushi Katsuki 's words it looks like she did a stellar job. Check out the full story from Melissa Parker here.

3. The 百事 and Australian Taxation Office saga finally concludes and a verdict bubbles to the surface. They have come to the conclusion that Pepsico is liable for royalty withholding tax. It seems Pepsi is paying the price for international Tax avoidance. check out the official statement here.

4. Consumption of Whiskey in India has been growing for the last decade; however, this has historically been dominated by foreign imports (usually Scottish). More recently though, local distilleries have been on the rise, mainly driven by changes in taste of the upper and upper middle classes. From everything I have read, these new home grown Whiskeys sound Dheli-cious, check out the full story by the The Economist here , or for non-subscribers check out the article from The Whiskey Magazine's Sandeep Arora here.

5. DoorDash and BWS announce their partnership in alcohol deliver service in Australia. This growing space has seen a lot of growth recently, but can these guys deliver the goods? Full story by Inside FMCG here.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to sharing edition 9 with you next month!