Cigarette sales down sharply in New Zealand

Sales of licit tobacco products in New Zealand fell by 23 percent between 2009 and 2013 according to a story in The New Zealand Herald quoting researchers from Action on Smoking and Health (Ash).

And while sales of illicit cigarettes increased during part of that period; they did so only modestly.

Again according to Ash, illicit tobacco products accounted for 0.7-2.0 percent of the New Zealand market in 2010, but 1.8-3.9 percent in 2013.

The government increased the excise tax on cigarettes by 10 percent and on fine-cut by 24 percent in 2010, and embarked on a series of annual increases of 10 percent on both that is due to run until next year.