Overseas Network, November 29th: French cigarette prices will rise again in 2024, and the price per pack is expected to increase by nearly 5%. And according to the plan of the French Ministry of Health, cigarette prices will continue to increase in 2025 and 2026.
According to a report by Le Parisien on November 28, the French Tobacco Manufacturers Federation predicts that the average price of cigarettes will increase by nearly 5% in 2024, and the price per pack will increase by 40 to 50 euro cents (about 3.12 yuan to 3.9 yuan). yuan), which is due to being tied to the average inflation rate in 2023. This means that the average price of cigarettes will reach 11.5 euros (about 89.7 yuan) per pack, making France one of the countries with the highest tobacco prices in the EU after Ireland. In the past 10 years, French tobacco prices have increased by 70%.
When French Health Minister Aurelian Rousseau submitted the "2023-2027 National Anti-Smoking Plan" on the 28th, he announced that by 2025, the price of a pack of cigarettes will increase to 12 euros (approximately 93.6 yuan). In the following 2026, The price of cigarettes will continue to rise, reaching 13 euros (about 101.4 yuan) per pack. He believes that raising cigarette prices is "the most effective anti-smoking measure." He also announced that "smoking-free zones" will be deployed around all beaches, parks, forests and some public places including schools, and smoke-free will become the norm.
Aurelian Rousseau said that 75,000 people die in France every year from smoking-related diseases, which remains the leading preventable cause of death and the leading cause of premature death (that is, death before the age of 65). Smoking remains " A scourge of public health.”
France's cigarette price increase is mainly aimed at encouraging less smoking. According to a research report published by the French Public Health Service on May 31, one in four adults in France smokes every day. This proportion stabilized at around 30% before 2016, then fell by 5 percentage points, and has remained at around 25% since the COVID-19 pandemic. To prevent smokers from switching to other types of products, the French government also plans to ban disposable e-cigarettes.
