In 2020, health restrictions linked to Covid-19 had significantly curbed cross-border purchases for three months, which had sharply lowered official tobacco sales figures in France. The real reference year is therefore 2019, before the crisis, and we therefore find practically the same figures for the year 2021: approximately 46,000 tonnes of tobacco sold (cigarettes, rolling tobacco, cigars, etc.).
In fact, according to the latest data from the Confederation of tobacconists, sales fell slightly last year in volume (by some 200 tonnes) but not in value. In two years, revenues related to tobacco sales have jumped 11% due to the increase in taxation, taxes, applied by the State. The increase has brought the price of a pack of tobacco in general beyond ten euros on average.
To put it simply, without taking out the graphs: our tobacco consumption has fallen a little over the last two years, but we have spent more on smoking.
Once again, if we exclude 2020, an atypical year, we went from tobacco sales of 19.5 billion euros in 2019 to 21.6 billion last year.
The French spent nearly 22 billion euros on the purchase of tobacco in all its forms last year. A huge financial windfall for the State which, at the same time, uses taxation to reduce the health impact and maintain the healthcare systems.
The leading cause of preventable death, tobacco kills some 78,000 people each year. In France, it is the tobacco manufacturers who set their selling prices, but the State encourages increases by varying the taxes which still represent more than 80% of the price of the packet.