Throughout the department, the situation is not very good. For tobacco shops, the trend clearly shows a general decline in the purchase of cigarette packs.
In Gruissan, Valérie Gauthier runs her own tobacco press. She is also responsible for the presidency of the federation of tobacconists of Aude. At its own level, it has a global view of the situation: “We are at -14.2% in sales volume for a drop in value of 5.5%. Currently, between four and five packs out of 10 are purchased outside the tobacconist network. Over the past 20 years, we have lost 40 % of them. We tend to continue in this direction in the years to come.
The cause, as mentioned earlier by Carcassonne tobacconists, is smokers who have not stopped their consumption by obtaining their supplies elsewhere. “Cross-border networks, directly in the street, in certain night grocery stores or even on the internet, there is no shortage of means to obtain packages”lists Valérie Gauthier.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the turnover of tobacco shops doubled
Illicit purchases which are accompanied, in the majority of cases, by an unknown origin and composition of the product itself. “In itself we are not against the public health policy pursued by the government. I will not say that smoking is beneficial for the population. But efforts should focus on neutralizing this trafficking which is even more harmful to people’s health”insists the president of the federation of tobacconists of Aude.
In this sense, a letter was sent to the Ministry of Health. “The more we increase the price of tobacco, the more consumers will turn to parallel networks”. A speech that Valérie Gauthier embellishes with a recent page from our history: “During the Covid-19 pandemic, the turnover of tobacco shops doubled, or even tripled in some cases. Why? People could no longer travel long distances to get supplies elsewhere.”
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