Swedish tobacco specialty snus sets sights on U.S. market

 

(Reuters) For Scandinavians snus is as Swedish as IKEA or ABBA, a popular and now elegantly-packaged smokeless tobacco that has transformed its image from a farmers' staple to a habit of slick executives and Stockholm hipsters.
But the future for main manufacturer Swedish Match may hinge on efforts to convince U.S. authorities these small pouches, banned on health grounds in the rest of the European Union, are less harmful than most other tobacco products.
The strategy, closely watched by the tobacco industry eyeing alternatives to traditional cigarettes, may be key for an iconic 99-year-old Swedish company seeing its dominance challenged in its domestic market, where some 285 million cans were consumed last year in a country of 10 million people. Continued