Hong Kong - Tobacco Reporter

Hong Kong: Increase in Quit-Smoking Requests

Hong Kong has seen an increase in calls to its smoking cessation hotline following the tobacco tax increase to 70 percent. Legislative Council member Rebecca Chan Hoi-yan has asked the government to enhance assistance to people who wish to quit smoking, according to The Standard.

Cigarettes in Hong Kong now cost at least HKD94 ($12.01).

Following the announcement of the tax hike, the weekly average number of people calling the quit-smoking hotline increased by four times.

Chan has expressed concern that the government may not follow up on the cases and determine how many people are successful in quitting smoking or how many people eventually resume smoking. According to Chan, there is a need for continuous efforts to understand the reasons behind successful quitting and the challenges of those who resume smoking.

She also called for comprehensive tobacco control policies by “focusing on target groups, such as teenagers, and implementing measures to track families in order to prevent teenagers from smoking.”

“The government should focus on better education and promotional efforts instead of solely relying on increasing tobacco duty,” said Peter Shiu Ka-fai of the wholesale and retail sector. He argued that it is important to inform smokers of the harmful effects of cigarettes and respect their choices.

March 15, 2024

Hong Kong Urged to Raise Taxes

The Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health (COSH) has called on the city’s government to increase the tobacco tax by at least three quarters in the 2024-2025 budget, reports the South China Morning Post.

Such a raise would bring the levy in line with the World Health Organization’s recommendation for taxes to account for 75 percent or more of cigarettes’ retail price. The proposed tax hike will push up the cigarette retail price to about HKD115 ($14.70) per pack, a potential tipping point for many smokers to consider cessation.

The move will also help Hong Kong achieve its goal of reducing smoking prevalence to 7.8 percent by 2025, according to the COSH. The smoking prevalence in Hong Kong was 9.5 percent in 2021.

COSH also advocates for an automatic tax increase mechanism for future annual tax hikes, adjusted to counteract the effects of inflation and income growth, and avoid the tax’s proportion in the overall retail price of cigarettes being decreased by industry price hikes.

According to the COSH, raising the tobacco tax requires the least implementation costs and enforcement resources, and the shortest time for legislation and implementation, while delivering the quickest and most significant results.

February 18, 2024

Council Urges Steep Tobacco Tax Increase

Hong Kong’s anti-smoking watchdog has called for a 75 percent increase in tobacco tax to meet international standards, reports the South China Morning Post.

If the tax rate is increased by 75 percent, the smoking rate could decrease by 0.7 percentage points to 8.8 percent, according to the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health. The council added that other control measures would be necessary to bring the city’s smoking rate down to the 7.8 percent goal by next year.

The call for a tax increase comes before next month’s budget. Last year, the tax was increased 31.5 percent.

“Raising tobacco tax should be prioritized for achieving the smoking reduction target,” council chairman Henry Tong Sau-chai said at a press conference.

“[The increase last year] was insufficient to compensate for the price gap caused by the freezing of the tax rate in the previous eight years.”

The World Health Organization has stated that the tax should account for at least three-quarters of the retail price of cigarettes, meaning Hong Kong would need an increase of 75 percent.

“[Hong Kong is] in a really good position to reduce prevalence to the point in getting close to what we call the ‘endgame,’” said Hana Ross, an honorary research associate from the University of Cape Town’s school of economics.

Forty-one countries, including France, the United Kingdom and Australia, have reached the WHO’s recommended level of tobacco tax.

January 31, 2024

Hong Kong Seizures Hit $288 Million in 2023

Customs officers in Hong Kong reported that the agency had impounded more than 650 million black market cigarettes worth HK$2.25 billion ($287.8 million) last year, the largest annual cash value in more than two decades, according to media reports.

The seized cigarettes would have generated about HK$1.54 billion in tax revenue, also a record, over the same period, according to an undisclosed source.

Last week, authorities in Hong Kong said they were considering a further increase in tobacco duty.

Last year’s total number of cigarettes seized was lower than the 732 million impounded in 2022, although the value was higher. Last year’s record seizure coincided with a 31 percent tobacco tax increase in February, which raised the average cost of a pack of 20 cigarettes by HK$12 to more than HK$70.

A pack on the black market costs HK$18 to HK$38.

The source said the confiscated tobacco products were stored in government warehouses currently, pending court proceedings or further investigations before being destroyed and buried at landfill sites.

He added customs officials would boost efforts to combat crime syndicates that tried to take advantage of busy logistics services in the run-up to the Lunar New Year to smuggle cigarettes into the city.

January 14, 2024

Hong Kong Mulls Higher Tobacco Tax

Authorities in Hong Kong are considering a further increase in tobacco duty, reports South China Morning Post, citing the city’s health minister.

Lo Chung-mau, secretary for health, did not confirm whether the measure would be included in Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s budget next month. Tobacco taxes were previously increased in February 2023 by HKD0.60 ($0.07) per cigarette. A pack of 20 cigarettes now costs around HKD78.

“Data from the World Health Organization and the global experience proves that an increase in tobacco tax is one of the most effective methods [to reduce smoking]. We will definitely consider it,” Lo said.

Following last year’s tax increase, calls to the government’s smoking cessation hotline increased threefold to fourfold, showing that the move was effective to encourage people to quit smoking, according to Lo. The current smoking rate is 9.5 percent, and authorities hope to cut that down to 7.8 percent by next year.

Currently, tobacco duty accounts for 64 percent of cigarette retail price in Hong Kong. The World Health Organization recommends 75 percent.

The government is currently analyzing data from a public consultation on its tobacco control plans. Lo stated that the government aims to deliver short-term and long-term strategies.

January 11, 2024

Hong Kong Solicits Feedback on Anti-Smoking Measures

Hong Kong health authorities have asked city residents for feedback on several anti-smoking measures, including a generational tobacco ban, reports the South China Morning Post.

The public consultation, which began July 12 and is expected to end Sept. 30, covers four strategies: regulating supply and suppressing demand; banning promotion and reducing attractiveness; expanding nonsmoking areas and mitigating harm; and enhancing education and supporting those quitting smoking, according to Health Minister Lo Chung-mau.

“To protect our next generation from the harms of tobacco and to ensure the sustainability of our healthcare system, we need to draft strategies that keep up with the times,” Lo told a press briefing. “As a doctor, I don’t want our next generation to suffer from the harms of smoking and secondhand smoke.”

There were 17 possible measures included in the questionnaire for the consultation, including whether Hong Kong should “prohibit the sale of tobacco products to persons born after a certain date.”

Other questions include whether increasing the tobacco tax to 75 percent of the package price should be done rapidly or gradually every year and if a further ban on possessing e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products is necessary. A ban on importing, promoting, manufacturing and selling e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products was implemented last year.

In its consultation, the government excluded more aggressive measures, such as requiring shops to get a license to sell tobacco, penalizing third parties who give or sell cigarettes to under-18s, labeling tobacco products imported legally and requiring smokers to use a government app to show their ages when buying goods to verify their eligibility.

July 13, 2023

Hong Kong to Lift Ban on Vape Shipments

The government of Hong Kong has decided to reverse its ban on the transshipment of vapor products, reports Loadstar.

Media reports claim the banned cargo amounts to about 330,000 tons a year—the equivalent of some 10 percent of Hong Kong’s annual export volumes by air, according to the Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics.

The value of the re-export cargo affected by the ban was estimated to exceed CNY120 billion ($17.33 billion).

While some transshipment by air had continued to be permitted, beginning in April of last year, vapes entering Hong Kong by land or sea for onward transport by air were banned. However, with the bulk of these products made in neighboring Dongguan, exporters were keen to ship them via land to Hong Kong International Airport.

Once the proposal is passed, the goods will be able to enter Hong Kong through a secure channel on dedicated barges and be delivered straight to the airport.

“The scheme is only to facilitate direct transshipment through Hong Kong, and the goods will not be available for domestic consumption. The proposal is in response to the demand of the Hong Kong air freight industry,” said Willy Lin, chairman of the Hong Kong Shippers Council.

“We hope we could get back some flights lost to competitor airports due to [the] stoppage of shipments of e-cigarettes and related substances through Hong Kong.”

March 23, 2023

Hong Kong: Record Cigarette Seizures

Hong Kong customs seized 730 million illicit cigarettes in 2022, 76 percent more than in 2021 and the highest annual figure in more than two decades, reports The Standard.

Officers processed 7,148 cases last year, including 3,436 involving cigarette smuggling and 931 involving drug trafficking.

The illicit cigarettes confiscated in 2022 had a market value of HKD2.01 billion ($256.07 million) and a taxable value of around HKD1.4 billion, according to Customs and Excise Commissioner Louise Ho Pui-shan.

Customs officials attributed the spike in illicit cigarettes to the rising tobacco price under inflation.

The increased seizures follow a relaxation of immigration measures in multiple countries after the Covid-19 pandemic, Ho added, noting Customs would recruit 90 inspectors and 170 officers to strengthen the city’s enforcement capability.

March 1, 2023

Hong Kong Hikes Cigarette Prices

The average price of a pack of cigarettes in Hong Kong increased to HKD73.75 ($9.40) on Feb. 22, following a 31 percent tax hike, reports the South China Morning Post.

With the increase, the city government aims to boost its coffers and cut the number of smokers by 100,000 in the next three years.

“Increasing tobacco duty is recognized internationally as the most effective means to reduce tobacco use,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in his budget speech. “A rise in cigarette price will increase the incentive of smokers to reduce or quit smoking.”

The government estimates the price increase would bring in an extra HKD1 billion a year in revenue.

The prevalence of smoking in Hong Kong has dropped from 23.3 percent of the population in 1982 to 9.5 percent at present. With the new measure, authorities hope to bring the figure down to 7.8 percent by 2025, or reduce the number of smokers from about 580,000 to 480,000.

Tobacco taxes now account for 68 percent of the pack price. This is higher than the 62 percent prior to the tax hike but still lower than the 75 percent rate recommended by the World Health Organization.

By comparison, tax makes up 67.1 percent of the price of a pack of cigarettes in Singapore, 73.9 percent in Australia and 82 percent in New Zealand, according to figures from 2020.

A government representative said that an increase in tobacco tax had led to more inquiries to the Department of Health’s smoking cessation hotline in the past. After the tobacco tax was raised by 50 percent in 2009, calls to the hotline rose by 257 percent.

February 23, 2023

Hong Kong Confiscates $24 Million in Illicit Cigarettes

Hong Kong customs officers confiscated HKD190 million ($24.25 million) worth of black market cigarettes in the second-largest smuggling bust in two decades, reports the South China Morning Post.

Hidden in seven cargo containers, the shipment of 69 million cigarettes was destined for Britain and Japan, according to Leung Chun-man, acting assistant superintendent of the customs’ revenue crimes investigation bureau.

One of the containers was packed with L&B and Benson & Hedges cigarettes with U.K. health warnings while another container was filled with Japan Tobacco’s Seven Stars brand cigarettes.

“It is the second-biggest seizure of illegal tobacco products discovered since our records began in 2002,” Leung said. The largest seizure took place in July 2022, when authorities confiscated HKD222 million worth of contraband.

If the contraband had been legally imported, Leung said, it would have generated HKD130 million in tax revenue.

Figures from the Customs and Excise Department show the agency confiscated 732 million black market cigarettes worth HKD1.23 billion last year—the biggest annual haul since records began two decades ago.

As Hong Kong eased its coronavirus restrictions last month, illegal tobacco dealers increased their activities.

In Hong Kong, a pack of 20 cigarettes sells for HKD50 to HKD60 whereas illegal ones can go for HKD15.

January 20, 2023

Tag: Hong Kong