The setup of global tobacco industry has changed a lot in recent years,among them the changes of European tobacco market are very significant and representative——higher taxes in tobacco products,lower rate of smoking and more smokers switched from ordinary tobaccos to the Next Generation products……Why would there be such changes,well,let’s go and find more about it.

1.Smoking rate declined universally in Europe

In 2017,the amount of legal tobacco consumption in European states is about 370 billion pieces,decreased by 2.6%.Smokers are getting more sensitive to price in the face of high taxes in tobaccos,some major tobacco companies have suffered collapse in pricing power of their products.However,it was predicted by Euromonitor International that Europe would outstrip America in the sales income of tobacco products by 2022,although taxes on tobacco in Europe is higher to that of in the US.

One of the outcomes resulted from Consumers’ sensitivity to price was that the amount of illegal tobacco product transactions rose rapidly,especially in Western Europe.In 2017,the market share of illegal tobacco product transactions has risen to 10%.Related data implied that the amount of illegal tobacco product transactions have doubled since 2003 while the sales of legal tobacco products increased only 40%.Recently,taxes on tobacco products in France rose again,which resulted in the rise of price of tobacco products,this will add fuel to the fire.

In light of such background,the amount of smokers decreased evidently,as was expected.The amount of smokers in Europe fell from 79 million in 2012 to 73 million in 2017.It’s estimated that the sales of tobacco products in Europe will decrease by 9% in the next 5 years.As far as the rate of smoking is concerned,the proportion of adult smokers is about 23.7% in 2012 and 21.4% in 2017.

According to some analysts:the decline of smokers in Europe resulted in part from the rapid development of Next Generation Products,this sort of products expand faster in Europe than in other regions.Related data implied that the sales income of electric cigarettes in European markets amounted to 4 billion euros in 2017,more than 10 million consumers opted for electric cigarettes. Euromonitor International predicted that the consumption of Next Generation products is expected to grow rapidly.

Apparently,Europe has transformed from a center of global tobacco industry into a “depression” of tobacco consumption.many European countries have implemented strict regulations such as “plain packaging”,meanwhile,according to the newest EU《tobacco product regulation》,Europe played an initial role in banning the sell of mint-flavored tobacco products.Following the new development trends,legislators in European countries hope to enhance the supervision of Next Generation products,the degree of supervision depends on the further development of this sort of products.

2. The present situation of electric cigarettes market in Britain,France,Germany and Italy

British tobacco market

Britain is not the greatest but a significant market in Europe,After EU put《Tobacco Product Regulations》into practice and raised the taxes on tobacco products,the price of tobacco products also raised in 2017.In May 2017,the“Plain Packaging” policy became effective in Britain,which further weakened the function of branding and marketing in tobacco selling,together these factors became the key to influence consumers’ choices on tobacco products,economical tobacco products get popular under such market environment and this  kind of situation is expected to sustain.

The smoking rate in Britain continued to fall in 2017,due partly to harsher regulations on tobacco products,the importance people attached to health and the rapid growth of electric cigarettes sales.Public health department’s attitude towards low-risk products is more supportive and positive than other countries.

German tobacco market

The consumption of traditional tobacco products in Germany increased by 1% in 2017 than in the last year,which makes Germany still a very important market in the world.Generally speaking,in aspects of taxes and advertisement,the market environment is still favorable for the development of tobacco industry.

However,expectation of a promising future of German tobacco market is absolutely an illusion,Actually,the German tobacco market is having a hard time,What's more,smokers also keep an eye on other types of tobacco products.

Looking into the future,the sales amount of traditional tobacco products will continue to slide,and the consumption of electric cigarettes will increase steadily,this will make up for the loss resulted from the slide of sales of traditional tobacco products.According to the market research report made by Euromonitor International:sales of Next Generation products in Germany is likely to grow substantially in the following 5 years.

French tobacco market

The French tobacco market has changed a lot in 2018.Since the end of 2017,due to a series of campaigns against smoking and increasing taxes on tobacco products,the consumption of cigarettes and cigars dropped slowly and will continue to drop in the future.

The French government raised taxes on tobacco products twice from 2017 to 2018.Then the price of cigarette and cigars rose a lot,which led to an unprecedented slide in the consumption of these products.Along with the increase of the price of traditional tobacco products,the consumption of these products will continue to drop by 2020.In the short term,there will be a growth in illegal tobacco transactions in French market,such changes in the framework of taxes on tobacco products will prompt more people to switch to the Next Generation products.

Italian tobacco market

In 2017,both the sales income of cigarettes and the consumption of cigarettes slid.Improvement in health awareness,increase in taxation and deeper knowledge of smoke-free products all restrained the development of traditional tobacco products.

In Italy,sales amount of tobacco products besides traditional cigarettes fluctuated a lot,in 2017,the consumption of low-end cigars raised rapidly.looking into the future, there will be a huge growth in the sales amount of electric cigarettes,for Italian consumers begin to accept them as alternatives to traditional cigarettes.