Tobacco: double price rise for packets of cigarettes in 2027

A packet costing 5.80 euros – the price range into which almost 40 per cent of cigarettes sold in https://argomenti.ilsole24ore.com/italia.html">Italia, will cost €5.93 in the second half of 2027. This is the estimate set out in the https://argomenti.ilsole24ore.com/relazione-tecnica.html">technical report accompanying the 2027–2029 Budget Bill, which, in Article 33, brings forward by six months the schedule of price rises set out in last year’s budget last year. For smokers, 2027 will therefore bring two price rises: the first in January, already provided for by Law 199/2025, and the second from 1 July.

The mechanism affects all components of the excise duty. For cigarettes, the fixed component rises to 38.50 euros per thousand pieces, instead of the 35.50 euros envisaged for the whole of 2027, the minimum tax burden rises from 221 to 227 euros and the rate on the retail price falls from 48.5 to 48 per cent.

These are the rates that the current law set to come into effect from 2028. According to the technical report, this will result in an increase ‘averaging around 13 cents per packet from the second half of 2027’, ranging from 10 to 13 cents depending on the price bracket: the €5.50 packet, which accounts for a quarter of the market, rises to €5.63, whilst the €6.80 packet rises to €6.91.

The same increase applies to other products. For cut tobacco for hand-rolled cigarettes, the minimum excise duty rises from 165.50 to 169.50 euros per kilo and the rate from 60.9 to 61.1 per cent; for cigarettes, from 49 to 51 euros per conventional kilogram, with the rate rising from 27.5 to 28 per cent.

For heated tobacco, the excise duty rate calculated on the cigarette equivalent rises from 41 per cent to 42 per cent. For e-cigarette liquids, the excise duty rises from 20 per cent to 22 per cent for those containing nicotine and from 15 per cent to 17 per cent for those without.