Fewer smokers yield higher sales
The number of smokers in the Netherlands has fallen by 17 percent since the year 2000. But sales of cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco (’shag’) increased by one quarter.
At the end of 2007 just over one quarter of the Dutch population (aged 12 years and older) were smokers, or 3.7 million people. This was down from 4.35 in 2000, the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) reports.
In 2007, cigarettes cost 70 percent more than in 2000. The sales volume of cigarettes declined by 9 percent in the same period and shag sales volume fell by nearly one quarter. As a result, net spending on tobacco products rose by one quarter in the period 2000-2007.
Since 2006, sales of cigarettes have been growing slightly again. “In recent years cigarettes have been cheaper in the Netherlands than in Belgium and Germany. This may have had an upward effect on sales in the border regions,” CBS explained.
Last year, sales of tobacco products accounted for around 3.9 billion euros. Excise duties constitute a substantial component of the price of tobacco. In the space of eight years, excise revenues rose by one third to over 2.1 billion euros in 2007. Excise rates are set to rise again on 1 July 2008.
Source: NIS News, 25 June 2008
