The price of a cigarette or rolling tobacco has risen sharply on Easter Monday. The excise tax increase will result in the largest price increase ever, the tobacco industry says. “I’ve already had three customers who are going to stop.”
It is quite busy at Convenience store Metting in Bellingwolde. Cars with German license plates drive back and forth. The eastern neighbors mainly come for the petrol. Texaco Metting charges 1.95 euros for a liter of E10. German motorists are happy to cross the border for this, but in their own country they pay considerably more.
The German certainly does not come for tobacco
The Germans certainly don’t come to Bellingwolde for tobacco. Prices for rolling tobacco and cigarettes rose sharply on April 1. That’s no joke. A pack of cigarettes now costs 11 euros (previously 9 euros), the price of a pack of rolling tobacco has increased by 8 euros to just over 24 euros.
Edwin Rouppé owns the Metting together with Bert Meijer. He feels the price increase. “Yes, sales have plummeted, you can safely say that. Nowadays we sell more rolling papers than rolling tobacco.”
Yet Rouppé does not intend to withdraw the cigarette from sale. “We are the only one here that sells tobacco products. We want to continue to offer the option.”
The excise tax increase flows to Germany
With his store a stone’s throw from the German border, Rouppé sees regular tobacco customers driving to Germany to buy their tobacco products there. “People also honestly tell me that they get their rolling tobacco in Germany. I can’t blame them.”
A detour to Germany for a pack of cigarettes or rolling tobacco is an option. A pack of cigarettes is now almost 4 euros cheaper in our eastern neighbors, and a pack of rolling tobacco is 15 euros. Rouppé: “You see that excise tax increase flowing away to Germany. This doesn’t just apply to cigarettes. Beer is also euros cheaper in Germany.”
A large tin of tobacco is cheaper
A few kilometers further from the border at the Shell Hoogebrug gas station in Winschoten, Liane Jansen expects that people will move more to Germany for a smoke, “but in general you see that people also continue to buy their rolling tobacco or cigarettes here.”
The latest price increase is sensitive. Especially since it is not the first in recent years. “What you do see is that people are buying more large cans of tobacco to make their own cigarettes. That is cheaper. But I have had at least three customers last week who said ‘now that it’s getting so expensive, I’m going to stop doing it’.”
An intention that the Heart Foundation, KWF and the Lung Fund are happy with. KWF director Carla van Gils told ANP that she was happy with the new increase. “Increasing the price is the best way to get people to stop smoking.” Environmental organizations will also not be happy if there is less smoking. Plastic in cigarette butts can have harmful effects on the environment.
Tags: Smoking expensive Edwin Bellingwolde sees tobacco sales plummeting sell rolling papers rolling tobacco
