Italy to increase tobacco prices by 2023

For smokers, it's bad news: tobacco products in Italy will experience a price increase in 2023. This is due to a provision included in the "2023 Budget Law" aimed at reshuffling the consumption tax between different products through a tax change.

As previously stated, consumers of tobacco products can expect to see an increase in prices of their vice by 2023. The revised 2023 Budget Law, approved by President Meloni's administration, includes a provision to impose specific consumption taxes on cigarettes. Starting from January 1st, 2023, the tax will raise the price of each pack by 0.20 euros (approximately 1.48 RMB), with variations depending on the brand of cigarette.

But that is not all, as the growth in cigarette prices will further increase in 2024 by 0.10 or 0.15 euros. In other words, starting from 2024, cigarettes may cost an additional 35 cents (around 2.24 yuan) more.

In 2023, the growth is not only targeted at cigarette users, as it also affects those who use electronic cigarettes, such as heated tobacco. However, for this type of cigarette, the price increase is relatively small. Non-nicotine cigarettes cost about 0.08 euros (approximately 0.59 yuan) per milliliter, while nicotine-containing cigarettes will rise in price to 0.13 euros (approximately 0.96 yuan) per milliliter.

The government recently announced that with the increase in prices of cigarettes and tobacco in 2023, the Italian state can expect to collect at least 100 million euros annually.

It has been revealed that cigarettes and tobacco will experience a price increase in 2023, but what will their prices be in 2021 with the introduction of the Euro? The official website of the national monopolies agency, Agenzia Accise Dogane Monopoli di Stato, has published a list of cigarette prices, including all brands available to the public, which was updated on November 24th of this year. The list indicates that the price of a pack of cigarettes in 2022 will range from 4.8 to 6 Euros.

Taking into account the expected price hikes for cigarettes and tobacco in 2023, it is possible that low-end cigarette packs may cost 5 euros, while higher-end packs could cost as much as 6.20 euros. However, it's worth noting that cigarette prices have already gone up significantly over the past two decades. In 2001, Marlboro cigarettes cost just 2.17 euros, while Camel cigarettes were 2.48 euros and the most popular brand, Winston, topped out at 3 euros. In short, cigarettes have gone up in price by more than 2 euros over the last 20 years.

Let's take a look at who in Italy will be spending more money next year, as the prices of cigarettes and tobacco are set to rise in 2023.

According to data provided by Epicentre ISS, we can estimate that the Italian regions will spend more money on cigarette and tobacco packaging next year due to the Meloni government's plan to increase prices in 2023. This analysis is based on a two-year period from 2020 to 2021.

Which region in Italy has the highest smoking rate? According to statistics, some areas in the central and southern parts of the country have the highest smoking rates, especially Abruzzo, Umbria, and Campania. Emilia-Romagna also has a significant number of smokers.

On the contrary, in 2023 the regions less affected by the increase in cigarette and tobacco prices will be Puglia, Marche, Calabria, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

According to data from the Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità), 50% of the population in Italy does not smoke, while 24.5% habitually consume cigarettes.

After realizing that cigarettes and tobacco will increase in price in 2023, let's take a look at how much revenue the country gains from cigarette sales. In this particular case, data from 2020 provided by the population analysis institution, Eurispes, shows that the country receives approximately 14 billion euros annually from cigarette sales.

However, it should be noted that if we take into account the annual expenditure that the country incurs in supporting public health and treating diseases closely related to tobacco consumption, we will realize that the actual net profit is half of this figure, which is approximately 7 billion euros.