Tobacco News

Public health activists and officials say the higher cost of tobacco products as a result of the latest state tax increases is creating an effective deterrent for youth.

“That’s going to result in one-third fewer youths using these deadly products,” Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizen’s Health Initiative and a lead lobbyist for the tax hike, said of the cost of the tobacco products. Ream more »

Most MPs backed a law legislating for four cumulative 10 percent annual rises in tobacco tax, though some had doubts about the way it was being done.

The Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products-Budget Measures) Amendment Bill (divided into seven bills), completed its third reading this afternoon.
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Cigarette prices could jump 400 percent under proposals drawn up by the Health and Social Development Ministry in an effort to deter smokers.

The Health and Social Development Ministry has submitted proposals to the government to nearly triple excise taxes on cigarettes from the current 360 rubles ($12) to 1,040 rubles ($34) per thousand sticks next year, Forbes Russia reported Tuesday.
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Eugene Regan (Opinion Analysis, September 7th) writes that a decrease in the price of cigarettes would lead to a reduction in illicit tobacco trade without having a significant effect on the level of smoking in Ireland. This is not the case.
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A Rangitata smoker is bucking tobacco excise tax and growing his own. David Limbe spent a staggering $2.60 on 300 seeds that he recently potted. He hopes to have a bumper harvest come March. The seeds will be separated around Labour Weekend and planted in a plot outdoors. Ream more »

FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan rejected a proposal for a €15 price tag on cigarettes as he feared it would increase tobacco smuggling.

Health Minister James Reilly had wanted to see a hike in the cost of 20 cigarettes of 65pc within six years as a “shock” tactic. But his Fine Gael colleague Mr Noonan said the country was already vulnerable to smugglers because of the current price of €9.10, with the exchequer losing €250m a year in revenue from the black market trade.
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THE average price of tobacco went up by 39 percent from an average of US$2,69 per kg in May 2011 to US$3,74 per kg in May 2012, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has said.

According to the banks’ June Zimbabwe economic review released this week, AfDB said the 2012 tobacco-selling season had continued on a positive note, a development that had benefited the farmers. Ream more »

Tobacco prices in Malawi, the world’s largest producer of the burley variety of the leaves, dropped 2.4 percent last week, Auction Holdings Ltd. said.
Prices fell to $2.39 a kilogram (2.2 pounds) in the period through June 22 from $2.45 a week earlier, the company, which manages the sale, said in a statement published in the Blantyre- based Daily Times newspaper today. It didn’t give a reason for the decline. Ream more »

A meeting of the Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) held on Monday to re-fix the tobacco price remained inconclusive as the minister decided to separately hold meeting with the stakeholders, a participant of the meeting told The News.

Abbas Khan Afiridi, the state minister for commerce, who has recently assumed the charge of ministry of commerce, will hold separate parleys with stakeholders particularly cigarette manufacturers, the same participant said. Ream more »

In what clearly is a massive push in the direction of getting smokers in New Zealand to quit smoking, the cost of cigarettes will be increased from the New Year’s Day.

As a result of the increase to take effect from January 1, 2012, the cost of a standard pack of 20 cigarettes will witness a 14.6 percent rise; thus breaking through the $15 price tag. The tobacco-hike move in New Zealand comes in the wake of the observations by Dr Jeffrey Wigand – a scientist and tobacco industry whistleblower – who is of the opinion that even though the country has progressed in terms of fighting tobacco addiction, there was still a lot of more work required.
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