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The Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, has made the unusual decision to reverse a ban on the sale of tobacco, blaming the coronavirus pandemic. The decision comes even though smoking is considered a sin in the mostly Buddhist country, where a tobacco control law was first passed in 1729 and the plant is believed to have grown from the blood of a demoness.
The country of about 750,000 people had banned the sale, manufacture and distribution of tobacco in 2010 but allowed smokers to import controlled amounts of tobacco products after paying hefty duties and taxes - sparking a thriving black market for cigarettes smuggled over the border from India. When Bhutan closed its frontier with India earlier this year because of India’s high COVID-19 infection rate, under-the-counter tobacco prices soared fourfold as traffickers found it harder to get into the country.
Some traffickers continued to cross the border and a Bhutanese worker testing positive for coronavirus after handling goods from India prompted, the Government to lift the 10-year-old ban on tobacco sales to temper demand for smuggled cigarettes and, in theory, lessen the risk of cross-border contagion.
The decision allows smokers to buy tobacco products from state-owned duty-free outlets, and adds them to the list of essential products available in the country's pandemic lockdown. Prime Minister Tshering insists the ban's reversal is temporary.
Source: Al Jazeera, 29 August 2020
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Smokers in Australia will need to spend an extra 12.5% for their cigarettes from today, 1st September, as tobacco excise increases. Successive tax rises from April 2010 have pushed the price of cigarettes higher, with today’s increase meaning a 25 pack of Marlboro Gold cigarettes will cost $48.50 (around £26), while the average 20 pack will cost around $35 (around £19).
Price increases aside, smokers have another incentive to quit in the form of COVID-19. In Australia, four times as many smokers have tried to quit during the pandemic, Health Minister Greg Hunt has revealed, amid concerns that smokers will be at greater risk should they contract the virus: “Smokers are more likely to have lung damage or lung disease, which greatly increases the risk of serious illness should they contract COVID-19,” Hunt said.
Source: Yahoo Finance, 1 September 2020
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Sales of Zimbabwe’s tobacco, the second largest foreign currency earner for the nation, fell 23.52% to 178.7 million kilogrammes this year, official data shows, after production was affected by lower rainfall.
The tobacco auction season, which ended on Friday 28th August, traditionally leads to improved foreign exchange inflows in the southern African nation. The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board said farmers delivered 178.7 million kilogrammes at the close of auctions compared to 233.6 million kilos during the same period last year.
Source: Reuters, 31 August 2020
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