U.S. tobacco companies’ first quarter earnings are getting a boost from recent price increases but the year’s outlook remains mixed as domestic sales volumes shrink due to state laws banning indoor smoking and the graying of core customers. On Thursday, Philip Morris International Inc., the world’s largest tobacco company by revenue, posted a 13% profit increase on higher prices and gains in Asian markets. Reynolds American In ... Jump to full article >>

ANTI-SMOKING campaigners are hopeful that last week’s 20 per cent increase in the price of cigarettes will finally push the 29 per cent of the population who smoke regularly into quitting. The bill that was rushed through parliament on December 10 may have been motivated by the need to increase annual revenue by an estimated €31 million, but Stelios Sikallides, executive secretary of the anti-smoking lobby of the Anti-Cancer Association Cypr ... Jump to full article >>

THE cost of nicotine patches will be slashed for low-income earners as the Federal Government ramps up its efforts to get more Australians to kick their smoking habit. A new life-saving drug will also be subsidised for the 73 Australians with a rare blood disorder after The Courier-Mail revealed their fight for funding. It can be revealed today the cost of the vital drug will come down from about $500,000 a year to just $33.60 per script in a m ... Jump to full article >>

The Office of Fair Trading will this morning unveil the findings of a seven-year investigation into alleged price fixing in the tobacco industry that has seen household names from Tesco to Shell face the threat of multi-million pound penalties. The announcement from the OFT, due as the stock market opens, follows an investigation into alleged price setting and the passing of sensitive information in the UK tobacco industry between 2000 and 2003 ... Jump to full article >>

Lawmakers are scheduled to vote this week on a bill that could increase the price of cigarettes by $2 a pack. Senators decided to vote on Bill 150 last night after discussing the bill for several hours. Sen. Benjamin Cruz, an author of the bill, said it will be voted on by Friday. If Bill 150 becomes a law, new taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products will take effect 60 days later. The current $1 tax on cigarettes will climb to $3 and the ... Jump to full article >>

The Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) has proposed a ‘tobacco transaction levy’ that would increase the cost of a cigarette by 10 cents from next July, rising to 30 cents in July 2012. The AMA is appealing to the Victorian Government to introduce the tax, saying the Federal Government remains silent on the issue months after receiving the Preventative Health Taskforce Report. The president of AMA Victoria, ... Jump to full article >>

Sharp increases in the price of cigarettes in January 2010 could fuel an explosion in tobacco smuggling, the Tobacco Retailers Alliance (TRA) has warned. The proposed increase to VAT announced in the chancellor’s pre-Budget report will mean a price rise of around 13 – 18p on a packet of 20 cigarettes. Retailers fear the cost increase will push more smokers onto the black market in tobacco products, which are typically sold at half th ... Jump to full article >>