The OFDT reveals that tobacco sales fell for the 27th consecutive month in France. In this assessment of the last decade, the Observatory explains the reasons for the inexorable fall of this market.
In May 2014, tobacco sales continued to decline: it was the 27th consecutive month of decline, except for the months of October and December 2013, for cigarettes (-10.4% compared to May 2013) and the 7thth months for roll-your-own tobacco (-9.5%). In addition, sales of treatments for smoking cessation are also down sharply, for the 9th months in a row (-27%), mainly patches (-57%) and Champix (-34%). And according to the French Observatory of Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), the e-cigarette is no stranger to the upheaval of this market. Even if he emphasizes that for ten years already, tobacco in France has been abused by the public authorities. With only one goal: to reduce the consumption of the French since tobacco was still in 2013 the leading cause of preventable death. A decade of struggle made up of failures and successes, according to the latest analysis made by the OFDT: “Tobacco in France: a review of the years 2004-2014.”
Increasingly restrictive smoke-free laws
This analysis highlights the key dates in the fight against smoking in France. Thus, since February 1, 2007, the smoking ban has been extended to all closed and covered places open to the public: health and educational establishments, as well as all those accommodating young minors, workplaces and all public transport. The places of “conviviality” (bars, nightclubs, restaurants, hotels, casinos, etc.) had until January 1, 2008 to comply.
Since its inception, this ban received very broad approval from the French population, which was further reinforced more than four years later. As a result in 2012, 94% of non-smokers and 88% of smokers declared themselves in favor of banning smoking in restaurants.
In addition, it is from July 2009 that the prohibition of sale applies to all minors and prohibits “flavored cigarettes. “
Finally, the labeling rules for tobacco products have been tightened. Thus, the words “Smoking kills” or “Smoking seriously harms your health and that of those around you” must now appear on 30% of the outer face of packages of tobacco products, as well as a message in the form of a commented color photograph, on 40% of the back. Until the neutral package, which Marisol Touraine, Minister of Health, would like to impose on tobacconists soon.
Price increases with little effect on smokers
Another aspect mentioned in the report, that of tobacco price increases. In 2003-2004, the State decided, for example, as part of the first Cancer Plan, to increase the level of taxation of tobacco products. The best-selling brand of cigarettes went from 3.60 euros in December 2002 to 5 euros in January 2004, an unprecedented increase of 39% in 14 months. This sharp increase caused a drop in sales but a partial deferral to cross-border purchases. From around 90,000 tonnes in 2002, sales fell 12% in 2003 and then 17% in 2004, reaching only 65,000 tonnes.
At the same time, purchases in neighboring countries, almost non-existent before that date or offset by those from foreigners in France, increased, reaching as early as 2005 some 12,000 tonnes for cigarettes alone.
However, despite the tobacco control measures, the proportion of smokers in France has not only not fallen (as it had been doing for at least fifteen years), but increased between 2005 and 2010. In adults , the proportion of daily smokers has thus increased from 28% to 30%, and their number is estimated in 2010-2011 at around 13.4 million. Nevertheless, the average quantity of cigarettes smoked daily decreased between 2005 and 2010.
In addition, France would be in the European average (28% of current smokers), but among the most consuming countries in Western Europe.
Does the e-cigarette sound the death knell for tobacco
But until when ? Because the e-cigarette market, in full expansion in France, is disrupting the habits of smokers. According to the ETINCEL-OFDT survey (Telephone survey for information on electronic cigarettes), 9% of experimenters declared that they had never or almost never smoked tobacco. A whole different proportion for those who use e-cigarettes regularly. Indeed, a third of daily vapers are former smokers and two thirds of current smokers.
In addition, many vapers declare that their main objective in the long term is to completely stop smoking and electronic cigarettes (51%) or to reduce their tobacco consumption (30%), financial motivation (“to save money). ”) Being mentioned much less often (6% of respondents), as well as being able to vape everywhere (5%).
Finally, the electronic cigarette undoubtedly impacts the tobacco market, by reducing the average quantity consumed by smokers.
But vaping is not yet the miracle solution. Proof of this is, “in November 2013, 1% of the population estimated that they had completely stopped smoking thanks to electronic cigarettes, for a proportion of 34% of smokers in 2010”, concludes the OFDT report.
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