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– Reuters Photo
KARACHI: Despite no promotional campaign, attraction for cigarettes remained stable as Pakistanis burned Rs200 billion on smoking in fiscal 2011.
The startling cigarette production figures, provided by the State Bank of Pakistan in its latest statistical bulletin, show the number of cigarettes produced in the fiscal 2011 increased over last year.
The official figures do not show complete production figures because a number of unregistered factories across the country produce low-grade cigarettes with cheaper selling prices.
The central bank reported that 54.4 billion cigarettes were produced from January to October 2011, while the num-ber was 65.40 billion during the 2010-11 financial year.
If the average price of one cigarette is Rs3 (as prices fluctuate between Rs2.5 and Rs5), the cost of 65 billion cigarettes comes to Rs195 billion.
Average prices of the most popular brands range between Rs3.5 and Rs5.
It is surprising that the consumption of cigarettes has been rising even in the absence of advertising and despite a statutory warning on packets. It has also been observed that a number of substitutes for cigarettes, though prohibited, are available and doing a roaring business.
The SBP reported that the highest production of 75.6 billion cigarettes was recorded in 2009, while it was 65.29 billion in 2010 and 65.4 billion in 2011.The report does not mention the exact number of unregistered factories in the country and the number of unbranded cigarettes they are producing.
According to sellers, low-priced cigarettes are mostly produced in tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
These cigarettes are not supplied to big cities like Karachi, but fake branded cigarettes produced by unregistered factories are available there.
The economy of cigarettes appears to be much higher than the figures provided by the State Bank because it does not include several imported or smuggled brands of cigarettes.
The prices of imported cigarettes are 100 to 200 per cent higher than any popular brand produced locally.
its a shame on us. then we say we that we are poor nation i totally disagree with this. we are the only responsible for our distraction.
Please do not write so much against smokers. let the people enjoy their freedom but what I suggest that the taxes on cigarettes should increase like in Europe or Turkey. A packet of cigarette is not less than 4 Euros there. Why not to earn more revenue for the government rather banning it. All the food items should be cheaper because everyone needs food to survive but not cigarette. I think Pak government should seriously think to make money out of cigarette. Do you know if Pakistani government should start taxing cigarettes like 2 rupees a cigarete then our annual icome will increase by 2 billion ruppees. Regards
IN ADDITION to being unhealthy Smoking is also HARAM. Unfortunatley this is missed by all religous scholars. Only if in Paksitan we start writing the word HARAM on cigarettes packets we can bring down the consumption.
A very good point.
@adnan shahidullah
I suggest you go and change the website where you got that information from. The fact is that smoking is one of the leading causes of breast cancer in women.
So smoke away but I pray that no one you know or love ever contracts breast cancer due to passive smoking.
Smoking is nother but other name for DISEASE,DISABILITY AND DEATH.
Unfortunately our goverment is addicted to tobacco money and not serious in controlling tobacco in Pakistan.
I agree 100 percent. What a national waste for a poor country like Pakistan where million of people have no food,healthcare and shelters? That is equivalent to $2.5 billion of dollar. That money can be used for national reconstruction, education and law enforcement for the country.
What a waste ! These 200 billion could be spent on consumer goods, circulating money into the economy or on education or God knows what other useful things. Mind you, big tobacco companies are foreign owned and repatriate their profits.
And this figure are possibly reported sales. All tobacco companies sidestep paying excise duty and don't report their true capacity and output. The figure is actually much higher, possibly double or triple the reported amount.
What has not been reported are the health costs, lost productivity due to illness and the cost of poverty that it generates, magnifying its effect to several hundred billions more. I am willing to speculate that it is actually a 500 billion rupee problem. Education not banning will reduce its consumption. There shold be a sustained program of education starting from schools, mosques(give the mullahs a real issue to talk about) and the media.
Dudes it contains Nicotine, having alot of beneficial effects (Nicotine reduces the chance of breast cancer among women carrying the very high risk BRCA gene) so its not that much bad as it is thinked of…