Cheaper cigarettes cost at least Dh10 a pack
BRANDS PRICED AT OVER DH20 HAVE ONLY RISEN BY DH1, RETAILERS SAY
Prices of cheaper cigarettes have soared in the market, with most of them now costing at least Dh10 per packet.
Shopkeepers and other industry sources told Gulf News yesterday said cheaper cigarettes have become expensive following the implementation of the latest excise tax from December 1, with the government setting the minimum standard price per packet at Dh8. Pine, Bon and Three Stars have been the cheap cigarettes.
Brands that cost more than Dh20 earlier have seen an increase of only Dh1, retailers said.
This is because the prices of expensive brands had doubled in October 2017 with another five per cent tax being imposed on them after the introduction of VAT in January 2018, industry sources said.
Most cigarettes now cost a minimum of Dh10 per packet in the UAE, forcing smokers to shell out more money for a puff, after the new excise tax came into effect on December 1.
Shopkeepers and other industry sources told Gulf News yesterday that prices of most cheap cigarettes had gone up to Dh10 and more, although the government set the minimum standard retail price per packet at Dh8.
The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) set a minimum of 40 fils hike in excise tax per cigarette piece while keeping the minimum standard price for a pack of 20 cigarettes at Dh8.
However, retail shops say most cheap cigarettes’ prices have more than doubled and they now cost more than Dh10. Meanwhile, the brands that cost more than Dh20 have seen an increase of only Dh1, some retailers say.
“Most Marlboro cigarettes had already had a 100 per cent hike in prices in October 2017. Then the VAT [five per cent] also got added. Now, those cigarettes that were being sold for Dh21 have got only Dh1 hike in excise tax,” a source from the Dubai distribution company for Marlboro said.
He said the government seems to be cracking down more on cheaper cigarettes so as to safeguard a larger section of the residents from health effects of smoking.
“Prices of almost all cigarette packets with 20 pieces have gone up above Dh10,” said Thufail Kuniyil, of Blue Mart Hypermarket in Al Quoz.
“The cheapest we know of is Bon International, which we were selling for Dh4. Now it has become Dh8 or Dh8.50. We have not started selling it for the new price as we don’t have the stock or the new price list for it,” said Thufail.
Pine, Bon and Three Stars have been the cheap cigarettes that most workers here smoke, he said.
Expensive brands like Marlboro and Davidoff also had come up with some cheaper
cigarettes after the price hike in 2017. “With the prices going up further, I think they will be in more demand now,” said Thufail.
Out of stock
Chesterfield — a cheap brand of Marlboro that now costs Dh13 — was already out of stock in the store, he said.
At another supermarket in Al Quoz, a female shopkeeper who did not wish to be named said, “The cheapest cigarette we now have is John Player Gold Leaf small, which we are selling for Dh6.75 for 10 pieces in a packet. But most other cigarettes have 20 pieces in a packet.” She said the cheapest packet of 20 cigarettes they have is American Blend’s Three Stars. “It was Dh5. Now it is Dh11,” she said.
Shameem, another shopkeeper with Express Al Madina Hypermarket, said customers have started buying boxes of five packets instead of 10 packets in bulk.
“They have started feeling the pinch,” he said.
Farhan Mahmoud, a Pakistani accountant who is a regular smoker, said: “It [new cigarette price] is too much now. But smokers will smoke at any cost. Those who are addicted cannot stop.”
Though Sunil Raj, an Indian advertising professional, also echoed the same, he said the move is likely to influence some smokers, especially workers with more financial constraints, to quit.