NAICS 312220Canadian industry · 6-digitregional market

Tobacco product manufacturing

This Canadian industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing cigarettes and other tobacco products. — Statistics Canada, NAICS 2022A

Establishments · CanadaA: 15
Under 10 employeesA: 67%

Size and shape

How many businesses there are and how small they are. Fragmentation is the first thing an entrant — or anyone selling software into this industry — needs to know, and it is one of the few things that is actually measured.

Canadian establishments by number of employeesA

1–4533%

5–9533%

10–190—

20–49213%

50–990—

100–19917%

200–499213%

500+0—

Of 15 Canadian establishments with employees, 67% have fewer than ten — mostly small operators.

Where they areA

Ontario960%

Quebec533%

Nova Scotia17%

Largest four provinces by establishment count. Establishments with employees only — sole operators with no payroll are not in this table, so in trades and personal services the true number of businesses is higher.

How many new establishments are still tradingA

Manufacturing, US · opened 2020

86.2%

1 year

70.8%

3 years

58.4%

5 years

45.3%

10 years

opened 2015

Measured, not forecast: the share of US establishments opening in one year that were still active later. It counts good operators and bad ones together, which is exactly why it is the honest answer to “what are the odds”. It is for the whole sector rather than this market, and the ten-year figure comes from an older cohort because no younger one has reached ten years.

No US figure is shown. County Business Patterns is coded to the 2017 US edition of NAICS; this code either does not exist there, names a different industry, or is outside the programme's coverage (most of agriculture, rail, postal and public administration are). A figure is attached only where both the code and the title agree.

How businesses here compete

The structural profile of subsector 312, which every industry beneath it inherits. This is analyst judgment from how the subsector is organised — not research into this industry, and not a measurement.

regional competitionmedium capitalUNVERIFIEDinherited from 312 Beverage and tobacco product manufacturing

Craft beverage is reachable and crowded. Shelf access is controlled by boards and distributors, and taproom sales are usually the only full-margin channel.

Who sets the price: Provincial liquor boards and distributors for alcohol; retailers for the rest.
The software it runs on: Brewery, winery and distillery production and excise-compliance systems.

Market screens and studies

Market-entry records filed along this branch of the hierarchy. A record at or beneath this code is about this industry; one above it is about something wider that contains it.

Screened one level up. Nothing is filed at this exact code; the screen for 3122 Tobacco manufacturing covers it.

Operating businessScreenedfiled at 3122

Tobacco Product ManufacturingOne thing must be true

binding constraint: entry cost + regulatory drag

The pre-screen said excise and licensing close this to new entrants. That is right, though the licence is not the part that does it. There are 16 tobacco manufacturing establishments in Canada [A]. Statistics Canada's own monthly table shows what they sell into: cigarette sales fell from 22.9 billion in 2010 to 12.3 billion in 2025, down 46% in fifteen years [A], and the decline has not levelled off — June 2024 sales were 16.8% below June 2023 [A]. The three large incumbents had creditor-protection plans approved by the court in 2025, built on a $32.5B global settlement, payable over time out of their operating profits [B]. An entrant carries none of that liability, which on paper is the only interesting opening in the industry: the same excise, the same retail price, and no settlement levy on the margin. It does not survive contact with the law. A federal excise manufacturing licence, stamping and bonding are the entry cost, and they are manageable. What cannot be overcome is that Canadian law requires plain, standardised packaging and prohibits nearly all promotion, so there is no lawful way to tell a smoker that a new brand exists or why to choose it. Brands that predate the rules keep their customers by habit, and a brand created after them cannot acquire any. The ten establishments with fewer than ten employees [A] are not evidence of an open door; this screen did not establish what they are, and at that size none of them is a challenger to the three incumbents. With sales down by nearly half in fifteen years there is also no growth to come in on.

NAICS 31224 vendors named10 sourced figuresOpen →

Software serving this industry

The vertical software markets filed along the same branch — who sells to these businesses and who they would have to displace — and then the generic categories every business buys whatever it does.

No vertical software market has been recorded along this branch. What the subsector typically runs on: Brewery, winery and distillery production and excise-compliance systems.

Catalogued categories — named, not analysed

Discrete manufacturing ERP SaaS 31-33

And what every business buys · 25 generic categories

Sold to every industry rather than this one, so they are filed against the software industry's own code. The same few vendors recur across most of them.

Who works here

The occupations employed in Manufacturing, most concentrated in it first. The share is measured against the whole sector, not this industry — the published cross-tabulation stops there.

Concentrated in this sectorA

Aircraft assemblers and aircraft assembly inspectors One industry 91.3%

Supervisors, assembly and fabrication One industry 88.3%

Machine operators and related workers in pulp and paper production and wood processing and manufacturing One industry 86.1%

Managers in manufacturing and utilities One industry 84.4%

Machine operators and related workers in chemical, plastic and rubber processing One industry 82.7%

Mechanical, electrical and electronics assemblers and inspectors One industry 82.3%

Machine operators and related workers in food, beverage and associated products processing One industry 79.1%

Machine operators and related workers in mineral and metal products processing and manufacturing One industry 77.7%

Furniture, wood, plastic and other products assemblers, finishers and inspectors One industry 73.9%

Machine operators and related workers in textile, fabric, fur and leather products processing and manufacturing One industry 70.8%

These jobs are mostly done here. An operator in this industry is competing for them against others in the same industry, not against the whole economy.

And the jobs every business has

Other technical trades Across the economy 20%

Technical occupations in electronics and electrical engineering Across the economy 16.3%

Shoe repairers, shoemakers and upholsterers Across the economy 15.2%

Administrative and financial supervisors Across the economy 11.6%

Technical inspectors and regulatory officers Across the economy 10.7%

Administrative services managers Across the economy 9.6%

Legislative and senior managers Across the economy 9.2%

Building maintenance installers, servicers and repairers Across the economy 8.3%

Financial, insurance and related administrative support workers Across the economy 7.7%

Technical occupations in computer and information systems Across the economy 4.8%

Found across at least fourteen of the twenty sectors. In a small establishment several of these are usually one person, or an outside provider.

All 162 occupations →