Eastern Europe

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…

Although smoking prevalence is declining in Lithuania in terms of cigarettes, consumers in Lithuania are very open to new innovations. Therefore, while volume sales of cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos and smoking tobacco decline in 2022, sales of…

Latvia’s tobacco industry had a good year in 2022 as demand for cigarettes increased, largely as a result of more stringent efforts to curb the clandestine trade in illicit cigarettes smuggled into the country from Russia and Belarus, while closed…

Sales of e-vapour products posted double-digit growth in current value terms in 2022, following a very successful couple of years in 2020 and 2021. Closed system single use products remained the most popular option in 2022 with the category remaining…

Closed system single use e-vapour products continued to register outstanding sales growth in Latvia in 2022, in the process recording the most impressive performance of any category across the country’s tobacco market during the year. These products…

Sales of cigarillos boomed in 2020 and 2021. Part of this growth stemmed from the excise tax tariff on these products, which allowed players to be more flexible with their pricing. Price fighter cigarillos in particular saw exceptional growth in…

2022 saw significant declines in demand for cigars and cigarillos. In cigars, the sales declines registered in 2022 form part of long-term negative sales trends that have been evident in the category for many years. In cigarillos meanwhile, declining…

Retail volume sales of cigarettes continued declining in 2022 and at a faster rate than during the previous year. Consumers are already aware of the threat posed by smoking, but the pandemic created a more immediate threat which served as further…

Retail volume sales of cigarettes generated positive growth during 2022, despite the declines seen in smoking prevalence in the country over the course of the year. The main reason for this seemingly anomalous situation is the significant decline…

As with all fmcg industries in the country, the war has strongly impacted the tobacco market in Ukraine. For example, there is a much-diminished consumer base, with approximately eight million people – some 20% of the population – estimated to have…

Overall, the picture remained bleak for cigarettes in Estonia in 2022, with the category seeing a further sizeable drop in volume sales during the year. Several factors led to the volume decline in cigarettes. More people gave up smoking completely,…

Closed system single use was amongst the strongest performers in smokeless tobacco, e-vapour products and heated tobacco in 2022, albeit from a low base. The category’s rapid expansion was in part down to the emergence of closed system single use…

Although heated tobacco recorded declining sales in both volume and real value (at constant 2022 prices) terms, it managed to register modest growth in current value terms in 2022, which was seen as not too bad a performance given Ukraine was…

Cigars, cigarillos and smoking tobacco all recorded major sales declines in unit volume terms in 2022, hit by a marked reduction in the assortment that was available as well as frequent out-of-stock situations, which were related to economic, import…

Cigars showed the fastest volume growth in the cigars, cigarillos and smoking tobacco category in 2022. This growth is explained by the development of cigar smoking culture in Estonia, which is now home to cigar clubs and competitions. For example,…

Cigarettes recorded a strong unit volume decline in 2022, losing around a fifth of their sales in this year. However, given the backdrop in the country during 2022, cigarettes could actually be said to have showed a slightly better performance than…

In 2022, the cigarettes category saw the continuation of the trend seen throughout the review period and registered a decline in volume sales. This trend is due to the rise in consumer health consciousness and the fall in the number of smokers. It…

Overall, the picture was positive for tobacco in 2022, largely driven by a growth in volume sales of cigarettes. This was in spite of high inflation stemming from the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. Part of the reason for the increased…

Overall, the picture was negative for tobacco in 2022, with constant value sales falling, and this was largely driven by a drop in volume sales of cigarettes. Twice yearly tax hikes on cigarettes, which are scheduled to continue until 2025, are…

Cigarettes remain the most common choice of tobacco for the majority of smokers in 2022 and was the main driver of tobacco overall, despite the unit price increase. Widespread distribution across all retail channels in Romania supports the…