Tobacco sales drop in Scotland
18 May, 2007
Pub vending machines hit hardest
Tobacco sales in Scotland have fallen by an estimated two per cent in the first year of the smoking ban – but the decline has been more than compensated for by the industry’s success in tackling smuggling.
Cigarette sales through vending machines and across pub bars have been hit harder, however.
Imperial Tobacco reports that the smuggling of its own brands into the UK has been cut by 98 per cent since 2000, thanks to close co-operation between tobacco manufacturers and customs authorities.
At the turn of the century the vast majority of roll-your-own (RYO) tobaccos in the UK had come into the country illegally. That has now been reduced to the extent that Imperial feels confident enough to launch a new low-price brand from June 4 – Player’s Gold Flake.
Low price RYO has seen an astonishing rise of 175 per cent in the past year as cigarette smokers look for cheaper alternatives and to control the size of their smoke.
“It may be that they are rolling smaller cigarettes so they spend less time outdoors when they have to smoke in the pub garden,” speculated Imperial’s UK marketing manager Pete Manzi.
Readers' comments
What do you expect
Let's see if I have this right: tobacco sales are down by just 2% in Scotland but RYO is up 175% globally in the UK? Drinks sales are down 11% in Scottish licenced premises. Last month this very publication reported the Scottish Parliament (under the then Labour government) as pleased with the overall success of the smoking ban. Am I missing something here? How does an 11% drop in sales in our industry plus a substantial drop in cigarette machine takings in licenced premises and a 2% drop in tobacco sales indicate a success? Never mind the smuggling of RYO or tailor mades either. A growing success rate since Y2K has no bearing whatsoever on the difference in figures between last year and this year. Tha smoking ban is a failure and we will continue to suffer because of it. I can only hope that England, with its 13,000,000 smokers are able to kick up more of a fuss than the paltry numbers we have in Scotland and I for one applaud any moves made by English smokers to have this ban reviewed.