The Lancet journal has published a comparison of the evolution of tobacco prices in France and Canada[1]At the same time, the authors studied the evolution of consumption and sales, taking into account contraband.
The authors point out that the tripling of the real price of tobacco in these two countries goes hand in hand with a halving of consumption: in France, between 1992 and 2018, the number of cigarettes went from 96 to 48 billion and in Canada from 70 billion in the early 1980s to 30 billion in 2010.
The increase in prices through tax increases has very little impact on contraband markets. The real source of contraband lies in the lack of control of the supply chain and the involvement of manufacturers in the organization of these parallel markets. This is particularly evident in the developments in Canada, which in the 1990s was faced with major trafficking orchestrated by cigarette manufacturers. The latter were thus putting pressure on them to reduce taxes on tobacco products. This contraband and the consequences of the tax reductions obtained during these years had a health cost: several tens of thousands of premature deaths that could have been avoided and they also represented a loss in tax revenue for the country.
Raising prices through significant tax increases remains the most effective method of action to reduce tobacco consumption and must go hand in hand with strict monitoring and traceability of products, independent of tobacco manufacturers.
The comparative evolution of these countries over time finally highlights that a continuous strategy of tax increases is essential to any strategy to reduce tobacco consumption.
[1] Cigarette prices, smoking, and deaths in France and Canada Prabhat Jha, Catherine Hill, Daphne CN Wu, Richard Peto, Lancet, Vol 395, January 4, 2020 | ©National Committee Against Smoking |
