Western Europe

The challenging economic environment and relevant price increases due to persistently high inflation and tax revisions affected the market performance in 2023, mainly to the detriment of cigarettes and fine cut tobacco. Cigarettes saw a decline in…

Sales of traditional tobacco products in Belgium continued to decline rapidly in 2023, primarily due to an increase in excise taxes on cigarettes and smoking tobacco. The diminishing price gap with neighbouring countries, such as France, has also…

Sweden continues to invest in its unique ‘harm reduction’ policy in efforts to try to reduce smoking cigarettes. Indeed, the country’s low smoking rate is widely reported in the international media. In 2022-2023, there was a clear increase in vaping…

Heated tobacco products continued to see outstanding growth in retail volume terms in 2023 with the category becoming among the most popular smoking alternatives to combustion tobacco. Tabaqueira SA - Empresa Industrial de Tabacos SA (GBO Philip…

E-vapour products, as a product area, experienced significant growth in 2023, driven by a combination of factors. The increase in excise taxes on cigarettes and smoking tobacco prompted many consumers to switch to e-vapour products, seeing them as a…

Smoking tobacco and cigarillos are both steadily losing popularity in Sweden, particularly among young adults who have been switching to snus and nicotine pouches. Border trade is typical in tobacco products within the Nordic region, with the return…

Despite the prices of cigarillos increasing these products still benefited from a more favourable taxation during 2023, and lower average prices compared to cigarettes. Due to a more significant increase in the prices of cigarettes some consumers…

Smoking tobacco experienced a significant decline in Belgium during 2023, primarily driven by escalating prices following recent excise hikes. The skyrocketing prices have led to a sharp reduction in sales, particularly to French consumers who…

In 2023, retail volume sales of cigarettes declined marginally in Sweden. The Swedish government’s strategy to reduce the smoking rate has been successful with smoking prevalence steadily falling to a record low of 5.5% in 2023, which is extremely…

Despite the positive impact from sales to tourists, this was not enough to prevent cigarettes from declining in in retail volume terms in 2023. The difficult economic context, high inflation and relevant price increases on cigarettes due to tax…