From Asia Times (link):
The largest tobacco producer in the world is the Chinese government, and despite loosening trade barriers, it appears it wants to stay that way by mastering the game of Monopoly at home and blowing more local smoke abroad.
The tobacco trade in China has opened up to some extent since the country’s admittance to the World Trade Organization in 2001. Yet today, despite foreign players keen on profiting from the world’s largest tobacco market, where about 60% of men smoke, their combined market share there is trivial.
