Despite international tobacco companies increasing cigarette prices in the past few years, there has not been a significant decrease in cigarette sales, a study has found.
Researchers from Taipei Medical University and the University of Bath tracked cigarette prices from 2011 to 2016 and found that tobacco companies had adopted a “boiling the frog” tactic, increasing prices of a packet of cigarettes by NT$25 to NT$30 (US$0.81 to US$0.97), or 40 percent, in Taiwan over the five-year period.
However, cigarette sales only dropped by 1.7 percent in the same period, the study found.
The companies enriched themselves by hiking prices, while smokers did not cut down, continuing to harm their health, the study said.
In 2011, 1.88 billion packets of cigarettes were sold in Taiwan, while 1.85 billion were sold in 2016, the study found.
National Health Research Institutes researcher Wen Chi-pang (溫啟邦) yesterday said that international tobacco companies are astute in their pricing strategies, focusing price hikes on mid-to-high-range cigarettes.
People who are used to smoking cigarettes that cost more tend to be more loyal and do not switch products, so even with the price rises, they continued to smoke the same brand, Wen said.
People who smoke cheaper cigarettes are usually younger or are in a lower income bracket, so by not raising prices on those — or only raising them by a small amount — the companies retained those customers, he said.
This strategy contributed to revenue growth for tobacco companies, he said.
Wayne Gao (高志文), a doctor at Taipei Medical University, said that in 2017 the government started levying a tobacco tax of NT$20 on each packet, which drove annual sales down by 18 percent, or about 300 million, to about 1.4 billion packets.
Hailing the move as the “most successful preventive healthcare policy ever,” Gao said the move would bring significant long-term public health benefits — for example fewer cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer and cardiovascular diseases — which would allow the nation to reduce its healthcare budget.
The tobacco industry has yearly revenue of about US$500 billion, with Taiwan contributing at least NT$160 billion annually.
The WHO and the World Bank recommend up to a 75 percent tax on cigarettes, while Taiwan only levies 50 to 55 percent.
The government should increase the tobacco tax and position it as its flagship healthcare policy to combat cancer and chronic illnesses while reducing healthcare spending, Gao said.
The research was published in the international journal Tobacco Control.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
RSS