Cigarettes, here are all the increases product by product

Increase in cigarettes but without any shock to the smoking market which would all benefit the illegal market or rather smuggling. Not only that. By providing for gradual increases in the price of tobacco, the Italian smoking market could avoid being overwhelmed by the radical reform of the directive on excise duties on tobacco products (Ted) that Brussels is working on, with increases that really risk being unprecedented for cigarettes, cut tobacco and cigars, and new taxes on alternative products such as electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco and nicotine sachets. This is why the government has presented the tobacco multinationals with a new tax calendar with excise duty increases planned over the next three years. All in all, the smoking sector will provide more than one billion euro over three years, but with the possibility of planning market choices without penalising different price brackets.

Against this background, the excise duty increases as envisaged by the first draft of the manoeuvre will have an effect on cigarette prices of 14-15 cents in 2026, reaching a total of 60 cents over the three-year planning period. In 2027 the increase will be smaller, stopping between 12 and 10 cents per pack, while in 2028 the price increase for blondes will be 12-13 cents. This, of course, bearing in mind that the companies will still be able to decide whether to actually pass on the entire increase to the consumer price or whether to absorb all or part of it.

For "do-it-yourself" cigarettes with cut tobacco, the price increase per single "packet" is certainly higher at about 50 cents in 2026. It must be said that if compared to the 20 classic cigarettes contained in the packets, the price increase in the first year would actually be around 22 cents. The increase would then stop below 10 cents per year for 2027 and 2028. On cigarettes, too, the increases envisaged in the draft manoeuvre are more substantial: for 2026 it would be about 28 cents per pack. Again, if the increase were compared to 20 traditional cigarettes, the price of cigarettes would be around 12-13 euro in 2026 and around 11 cents per pack per year for the following two years. This is almost due and, above all, looking ahead to the coming years when the Ted Tobacco Directive comes into effect. In essence, both the government and the companies chose to push for the increase immediately to avoid, as mentioned, a shock on the market with the arrival of the EU rules.

On heated tobacco, the forecast is for an increase spread over the three-year period that could amount to 42 per cent in 2028. Which translated into cents could be 12-13 cents next year and under 10 cents in the following two years. Again, the aim is to avoid possible negative impacts with the arrival of the Ted directive. No increase in sight instead for cigars.

For nicotine sachets, the draft of the manoeuvre does not provide for any intervention on excise duties but regulates by primary rule the characteristics and elements that packets with nicotine sachets must contain, but above all introduces a maximum limit of nicotine per single functional consumer packet by setting it at 16.6 milligrams. Not only that. The other major intervention that emerges from reading the current Article 28 of the draft manoeuvre is the obligation to sell nicotine 'sachets' in tobacconists, thus excluding online sales. Among the elements that must be indicated on the packets, hitherto administratively regulated, are the nicotine dose indications, the health warning and the fact that the products can only be marketed if they are fitted with a child-proof closure. All warnings, in fact, already adopted by the manufacturers marketing the product.