2023-12-12 18:07:24
Published on Dec 12 2023 at 4:39 p.m. Updated Dec 12 2023 at 5:07 p.m.
Smokers will indeed pay more for their cigarettes next year. And even more than expected by the executive. Packages very popular with the French will see their price increase by 50 cents, or even 1 euro, on January 1, 2024 to reach 11.50 euros or even more than 12 euros, according to data transmitted by the manufacturers and published this Tuesday.
An increase in the price of a pack of cigarettes was expected by professionals in the sector, given the increase in tobacco taxes linked to inflation.Because taxes, accounting for more than 80% of the price of the package, are now increasing according to the inflation of the previous year. This having been greater than 4.5% this year, prices were mechanically driven upwards.
Increases of 1 euro
Manufacturers could have cut back on their margins in order to contain the bill for smokers and lure them. They obviously did not make this choice. Result: the price of packets of Lucky Strike Red, Camel Filters, News Rouge or Winston Classic cigarettes will increase from 11 to 11.50 euros.
The manufacturer Philip Morris International even had a heavier hand. The cost of the package of Philip Morris Bleue will jump by 1 euro to 12 euros. As for the price of the pack of Marlboro Red – the most sold in France according to tobacconists – it will increase to 12.50 euros.
Enough to unpleasantly surprise tobacconists who were banking on increases of 40 to 50 cents. “We are starting to approach the heights of the unreasonable,” reacts Philippe Coy, the president of the Confederation of tobacconists.
This also notes the rise in prices of rolling tobacco. The Camel tobacco pouch will increase by 1.20 euros to 17.10 euros. Ditto for the very sold Fleur du Pays joke. “People will only have one escape route for smoking, which is to get their supplies from the street,” says the representative of the tobacconists, worried about seeing the illegal market develop.
A turn of the screw to put into perspective
These increases already seem to make some of the commitments made by the executive to fight against smoking obsolete. Presenting the government’s new anti-tobacco strategy at the end of November, the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, promised to increase the price of the packet to 13 euros in 2027, with a first level at 12 euros in 2025.
This level will be reached for Marlboros in January. And that’s just the beginning. Because the price increases recorded by Philip Morris are enough to unwind other manufacturers. “This leaves the field open to further price increases from the start of 2024,” estimates Romain Laroche of the manufacturer Seita.
Expanded smoke-free zones
In France, almost a quarter of adults smoke daily. To reduce smoking, anti-tobacco associations believe that the government should increase the price of the packet to 16 euros in 2027. Disappointed after the presentation of the anti-smoking plan at not having been heard on this point, the The Alliance Against Tobacco castigated the executive’s “lack of political courage”.
It remains to be seen how consumers will react to the increase in prices confirmed this Tuesday. Knowing that they will also have to comply with an extension of the areas where smoking is prohibited, under the plan presented by the government.
The State called to support the month without alcohol
Around fifty addictologists ask the State to support the alcohol-free January prevention operation (“January Challenge”), in a letter addressed to the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, revealed “Le Parisien” on Tuesday . They particularly regret that prevention campaigns prepared by the Santé Publique France agency have been abandoned. “Confidence in the government to pursue a coherent and resolute policy is seriously impaired,” they write in this letter.
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