Cigarette prices to rise this February in France
Further increases may follow if tobacco tax rises are included in upcoming budget
Left-wing senators want the minimum price of a packet of cigarettes to rise to €16
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Price increases to numerous tobacco products are to take effect from February 1.
Affected products include both packets of tobacco and loose-leaf rolling tobacco, with the price of a standard 20-pack of cigarettes now €13 or more in many instances.
A PDF released by French customs showing the price changes can be found here. The changes are definite and have been published in the French Journal Officiel.
Certain products already saw their prices change on January 1 when prices were initially reevaluated.
Further price hikes on the way?
Future increases in tobacco price may take place as the 2025 budget is yet to pass.
The full contents of the budget is not yet known and prime minister François Bayrou may be inclined to increase tobacco taxes as an additional revenue stream.
Ministers in the previous government stated they would not raise tobacco taxes, however the Senate voted to implement them last November, against the advice and wishes of the government.
Left-wing senators did not vote for the changes, as they wished for legislation to include a minimum €16 per packet price rise.
The tax increase passed in the chamber, around 40c per packet, was scrapped alongside the totality of the former budget, but the Senate is likely to vote to include the taxes in one form or another once more, if Mr Bayrou does not add the increases to his initial draft of the budget.
Current health minister Elisabeth Borne planned to increase the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes to a minimum of €13 by 2027 when she was prime minister, as part of wider anti-tobacco plans.
The government estimates that 75,000 deaths per year are caused by tobacco, costing the French economy €156 billion annually.
Read more: How do new French life expectancy stats compare with US and UK?
