Africa

After a year of strong growth in 2021, cigarette sales recorded a slight unit volume decline in Middle East and Africa in 2022. With disposable incomes under pressure in a lot of countries, illicit trade remains a problem in many of them. E-vaping…

Technological advances in 2024 will continue to reshape consumer behaviour. This annual report explores the top five digital shopper trends that will redefine commerce the most in the year ahead. Some of the trends included in this report’s edition…

This report examines inflation levels and drivers globally and in key countries in Q4 2023 and 2024. Global inflation is moderating, although divergence remains among the key economies. Higher volatility in the energy markets and disruption of…

While tobacco in Nigeria showed an improved performance in current value growth terms in 2022, this was mainly due to unit price hikes resulting from tax increases and inflationary pressures fuelled by the global recovery from the pandemic, the…

Cameroon was not as affected by the energy crisis stemming from the war in Ukraine as many other countries. Rising global energy prices in 2022 gave a boost to government coffers and helped stabilise the economy. However, ongoing civil conflict, as…

Overall demand for smokeless tobacco, e-vapour and heated tobacco products declined in Nigeria in 2022. The downturn was mainly explained by rapidly rising prices and the erosion of purchasing power among consumers as inflation soared due to the…

Retail volume sales of cigars, cigarillos and smoking tobacco declined sharply in 2022. As with cigarettes, demand was depressed by steep price hikes resulting from tax increases and a spike in inflation caused by the depreciation of the naira, the…

In a major development, authorities introduced a ban on shisha smoking in 2022, following other African countries such as Kenya, The Gambia, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ghana. In addition, Mali also introduced a ban in 2022. According to the Ministry of…

Retail volume sales of cigarettes in Nigeria declined marginally in 2022. This was mainly because steep increases in unit prices gave many smokers a greater incentive to quit or cut down, particularly as high inflation eroded purchasing power and…

Cameroon was not as affected by the energy crisis stemming from the war in Ukraine as many other countries. Rising global energy prices in 2022 gave a boost to government coffers and helped stabilise the economy. However, ongoing civil conflict, as…

Tobacco in Uganda is dominated by British American Tobacco and local player Leaf Tobacco & Commodities, with sales limited to cigarettes. There has been a shift away from premium cigarette brands as rising prices have made cigarettes less affordable.…

The Tanzanian tobacco market witnessed further value growth in 2022. The dominant player in cigarettes, Tanzania Cigarette Co Ltd, recorded double-digit growth in gross profit. Smoking prevalence is rising, with attitudes to smoking changing and…

Tobacco in Ethiopia is dominated by the previously state-owned company National Tobacco Enterprise Ethiopia, which generates its revenues entirely from sales of cigarettes. While retail volume sales of tax-paid cigarettes are rising, retail sales…

Tobacco will remain popular in 2022, however, global inflation is having a negative impact on all categories within the industry. While inflation has not necessarily caused the prices of products to increase significantly, the price of food and other…

Tobacco use remains somewhat limited in Angola, with cigarettes remaining the most popular category in 2022. Moreover, despite more stringent tobacco control legislation, attitudes towards tobacco remain relatively favourable, while cigarettes are…

Tobacco use in Ghana remains low due to strong societal and cultural disapproval of smoking. It was further negatively impacted in 2022 by high unit price rises due to depreciation of the local currency and tax rises. Volume sales of cigarettes…

In 2022, the tobacco landscape in Kenya was shaped by ongoing inflation, rising price points and increasing health awareness. As such, premium cigarette brands continued to note a decline in sales, attributed to limited consumer budgets in the face…

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales of cigars and cigarillos plummeted. This was mainly due to the closures of establishments, as consumers of these products are usually social smokers that enjoy smoking these products in social settings. In…

There is a high level of illegal trade/counterfeit tobacco products in Kenya, especially cigarettes. These products manage to enter the country through porous borders and continuously pose a challenge to local manufacturers while damaging the overall…

2022 was a challenging year for tobacco in Tunisia, with current and constant value sales falling, as well as volume sales. This dismal picture was largely due to a double-digit fall in the volume sales of cigarettes and this was in spite of a…