Tobacco

The monopoly over the manufacturing of cigarettes in Egypt by the state-owned Eastern Co. came to an end in 2022, when the United Tobacco Company (UTC), a subsidiary of Philip Morris International (PMI), started manufacturing cigarettes. This…

After an increase in the Internal Consumption Tax (TIC) on tobacco in January 2021, there was a rise in April 2021 and further increase in January 2023, building on the increase from 2020. This had a particularly pronounced effect on volume sales of…

Sales of cigars, cigarillos and smoking tobacco rebound in 2022 due to the reopening of cafés and bars, and the surge in tourism. These products are mainly consumed in on-trade outlets, which account for more than 80% of total cigars and smoking…

Since the introduction of its heated tobacco device Iqos in November 2021, Philip Morris has continued to invest in opening its own stores in large cities in Morocco where Iqos retails at MAD750, while HEETS heated tobacco sticks are sold in…

After a strong recovery in economic activity during 2021 with GDP growth of more than 7%, the performance of Morocco’s economy stood at 1.3% in 2022 due to an unfavourable economic situation, especially for the agricultural sector, which was strongly…

It was a negative year for cigarettes in 2022, with a significant fall in volume sales and with illicit sales accounting for over a quarter of volume sales – a figure that has been increasing since 2020. This was in spite of smoking prevalence…

Tunisians are big fans of hookah smoking, which is widely smoked in cafés in Tunisia. This sector is dominated by foreign brands such as Mazaya, Al Fakher, and Adalya, which are smuggled into Tunisia on the black market and available from traditional…

In November 2021, the global tobacco giant Philip Morris entered heated tobacco and heating devices with its iQOS 3 Duo and HEETS brands, under the Régie Nationale des Tabacs et des Allumettes (RNTA) umbrella. One year on, heated tobacco registered…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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 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…

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 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.…

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…

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…