Norwegian smokeless tobacco firm signs deal with Reynolds
A Norwegian company will start selling a new smokeless tobacco product in the United States under an agreement with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Oslo, Norway,-based Taboca AS has announced that it's signed an agreement with Reynolds, a subsidiary of Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI), to exchange services and to launch a snus product in the United States. Snus is a form of smokeless tobacco is moist tobacco that's consumed under the upper lip.
Few other details of the agreement have been released.
The deal marks a further step in Winston-Salem-based Reynolds' efforts to get into the smokeless tobacco business in a big way. Earlier this year it brought Conwood, the nation's second largest maker of smokeless tobacco products.
Sales of smokeless tobacco products are growing, even as the number of cigarettes sold in the United States continues to decline. Cigarette smokers across the country are also facing greater restrictions on where they can smoke, and Reynolds believes some may switch to smokeless tobacco products.
