Since yesterday, a pack of imported cigarettes has become more expensive by 10 denars
Since yesterday, the price of cigarettes imported from Serbia has increased by ten denars per pack. Traders say that the distributors announced this to them a few days ago, but they are surprised by the percentage. Cigarettes from domestic manufacturers are still sold at the old prices, but it is not known until when. The last time the price of cigarettes changed was in February last year, and then in July due to the increased excise tax.
The new prices were expected given the trend of increasing prices of raw materials, repromaterials and energy, above all gas and electricity, which have a significant share in production. Pressure on the price of cigarettes is also created by the regular annual increase of the excise tax, which was introduced as an additional tax by the state to discourage smoking.
In the past years, in order to avoid higher prices for cigarettes, some manufacturers and importers of cigarettes made decisions to take part of the cost of the increased excise tax on themselves.
From July 1, 2014, the rate of the specific and minimum excise tax on cigarettes increases by MKD 0,15 per cigarette, and from July 1, 2016 to July 1, 2023, this rate for cigarettes increases by MKD 0,20 per pack. . If we take into account that there are now 20 cigarettes in one pack, this means that, on average, every year the price of a pack of cigarettes increased by an average of 4 denars. Mathematically, if a pack of cigarettes cost MKD 2014 in 50, the last year of the price increase, its price will be more than twice as high.
Due to the new Tobacco Act 2019, from November 2020 all packs now contain 20 cigarettes, instead of 19 cigarettes. According to the Law, the small packs of 10 cigarettes were withdrawn from sale, and the boxes must not be labeled as lite or similar.
In addition to the standard harm messages that are still on the packaging, smokers of rolling cigarettes are also warned that the smoke contains more than 70 substances known to cause cancer.
According to the latest research, Macedonia is among the top 10 countries in the world based on the prevalence of smoking and the total number of cigarettes smoked per day per smoker, while 40 percent of the population are smokers.
