JT requests price hikes

Japan Tobacco it has asked the Finance Ministry for permission to raise cigarette prices in Japan in tandem with the planned consumption tax increase on Oct. 1.

If approved, most of the company’s 115 cigarette brands will be ¥10 ($0.09) more expensive to reflect the tax hike from 8 percent to 10 percent, with the price of bestseller Mevius going up to ¥490 per 20 sticks and that of Seven Stars to ¥510 yen per pack.

The price of a pack of 20 refill tobacco capsules for JT’s new Ploom S heat-not-burn device will increase by ¥10 to ¥490, in line with the government’s decision to raise in stages the currently tobacco tax rate for such capsules to the level for cigarettes by 2022. The per-pack price of refills for the conventional Ploom Tech device will remain at ¥490 yen.

Meanwhile, cigarettes labeled as “third-class” products by JT’s predecessor, Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corp., will see the preferential tobacco tax rate for them evoked at the end of September, prompting price hikes of 90 yen for brands suc as Golden Bat, Echo and Wakaba, currently sold for 330 yen, 350 yen and 360 yen, respectively.

The three old cigarette brands will disappear when they run out of stock and will be replaced by cigar brands with the same namesakes.