Recovering Tobacco Sales Shows That Cigarette Consumption Has Not Declined Despite The South Korean Government's Efforts To Curb It
To decrease the number of smokers in the country, the South Korean government has approved an increase on the prices of cigarettes in the country for up to 80 percent on January 1. Initially, it has led sales to nosedive.
An article by Asia One notes on Wednesday that, months after the price hike, the number of cigarette demands has seemed to slowly recover. On July, the number of cigarette packs sold has reached over 350 million, which is almost equivalent to the average monthly sales of 362 million three years before the price hike has been implemented.
These figures shows that cigarette consumption has gotten stronger and sales have recovered compared to the recorded sales of 170 million packs in January.
BBC has reported on December 3, 2014 that South Korea holds the record of having the highest rate of male smokers among other member countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
This fact has pushed the government to increase the price of a cigarette pack from 2,500 to 4,500 won, hoping that it will help cut down the number of smokers in the country amid rising health concerns.
As the demand for cigarettes recovers also comes a debate on whether the government really aims to protect the public's health or they just want to collect bigger taxes. Reports have revealed that an extra 1.2 trillion won in tax payments has been secured during the first half of this year, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
"The government stressed that the price hike was aimed at promoting public health, not at reaping tax revenues, but it only resulted in putting more burden on smokers," Representative Yoon Ho Jong says.
"The authorities cannot get away from criticism that it raised the cigarette price to make up for the shortfall in last year's tax revenues."
