Do price hikes lead to lower cigarette consumption in Turkey?

* Photo: cottonbro / Pexels

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The prices of cigarettes have been increased in Turkey right after the new year Shortly after the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced the annual consumer inflation rate as 39 percent in December 2021, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance increased the Special Consumption Tax (ÖTV) on alcoholic beverages and tobacco products by 47.4 percent based on the 6-month change in the Domestic Producer Price Index.

Following this price hike dated January 4, 2022, the price of a pack of cigarettes has increased by an average of 4 lira. But do these controversial price increases lead to lower cigarette consumption?

Setting out to find an answer to this question, the NG Research company conducted a survey with the participation of 1,768 people across Turkey on January 4-6. According to the results of the survey carried out on benderimki.com website, three out of every four people aged over 15 say that the increases in cigarette prices have not led to less smoking.

61 percent of the respondents who think that price hikes lead to a decrease in smoking say that there has been no change in cigarette consumption after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

When the impact of price increases and coronavirus on smoking is observed in general terms, personal economy precedes personal health. While price increases lead to a higher drop in smoking, concerns about health do not produce the same effect on cigarette consumption.

While half of the respondents say that they have been smoking for 1-10 years, the other half have been smoking for over 10 years.

Moreover, one out of every three respondents at the high-school age (15-18 years of age) say that they smoke.

53 percent of the respondents indicate that they smoke 1 or more packs of cigarettes a day. They spend an average of 20 lira for a pack of cigarettes.

One out of four respondents say that they spend over 600 lira for cigarettes a month. While 6 percent say that they spend 801-1,000 lira, 4 percent spend more than 1,000 lira for cigarettes in a month. (HA/SD)

* The minimum wage stands at 4,250 lira in Turkey in 2022.