Since 2021, legal tobacco sales in the UK have drastically decreased by 45.5%, yet the number of smokers has only slightly declined by 0.5%. This unusual situation suggests a substantial increase in sales on the black market, prompting concerns for governmental authorities. Dr. Christopher Snowdon highlights that duty-paid cigarette sales fell by 44.4%, while hand-rolling tobacco sales dropped by 47.6%. Despite a small reduction in smoker numbers, consumption patterns remain stable, indicating that the legal market has been severely impacted by illicit trading.
Official figures recently published by HMRC indicate a huge rise in illicit tobacco sales in the UK since 2021.
The number of duty-paid cigarettes sold plummeted from 23.6 billion in 2021 to 13.2 billion in 2024, a decline of 44.4%.
When population growth is taken into account, the number of smokers declined by just 0.5 percentage points between 2021 and 2024.
Daily cigarette consumption has remained stable since 2020 at around 10.5 cigarettes per smoker on average.
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