tobacco shops and tobacco industry will have held their breath until the end. The government has waited until the last deadline to confirm the new price list of cigarettes. The ministerial decree is expected to enter into force as early as Friday: march 1, applies the new band of rising taxes imposed by the government, which wants to bring the price of a package of cigarettes to 10 euros in 2020.

The order, signed by Agnès Buzyn, minister of Health, and Gérald Darmanin, his counterpart in the Budget, was ready for fifteen days, manufacturers have put their prices at the end of January to the Customs administration. But, according to sources close to the industry, he was blocked at Matignon since, as the entourage of the prime minister is afraid of the impact of the announcement of a new increase in tobacco prices: the "yellow vests" have given the subject of the purchasing power at the centre of the debate, which question the government on the continuation of its policy.

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This time, he has not reneged on its commitments, and the price of a pack of cigarettes will indeed continue to soar. Most of the increases are being kept secret until the publication in the OJ, should be 50 to 60 cents per pack. The price of Marlboro, the brand most sold in France, could reach 8,80 euros.

"This hyperinflation will be translated again by a decrease in the legal market and an increase of smuggling and of the purchases made abroad without the guarantee of a fall in the real consumption," says an industrialist. The late publication of the price list should also sow panic among the tobacconists, who have 24 hours to change the labels...

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Loïc Josseran: "The rise in the price of tobacco is one of the levers most effective in the fight against tobacco use" - Look on Figaro Live