Tobacco.org

• Seventy per cent of Bulgarian smokers wanted to quit, survey says  

More than 70 per cent of smokers in Bulgaria wanted to give up smoking, Yulia Medichkova of the Greenwild Foundation was quoted by Bulgarian news agency BTA as saying on November 19 2009.

Medichkova presented the results of a one-year campaign entitled The Culture of Breathing. Over 50 per cent of Bulgarians approved of increased restrictions on smoking that will be introduced by mid-2010. Bulgaria ranks third in the world in terms of number of smokers, after Japan and Greece, Medichkova said.

What was more worrying, according to another survey released by the Health Ministry on November 17 2009, was that every second pregnant woman in Bulgaria smoked during pregnancy.

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Bulgaria delays sale of cigarette maker Bulgartabak  

aria has delayed the sale of tobacco company Bulgartabak Holding until end-March, and plans to hire a consultant to help structure the deal, Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov said on Tuesday.

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Cigarette prices to soar, fuel to inch up  

Cigarettes will be levied an excise duty of EUR 76 per 1,000 pieces in 2010, finance minister Simeon Djankov said in a phone conversation from Goteborg where he attended the meeting of EU's finance and economy ministers. The current rate is EUR 52 per 1,000 units and the excise hike will bring the prices of most popular brands to BGN 4.50-4.90 a pack. . . .

The excise hike plans drew serious opposition from British American Tobacco (BAT). The company, which produces Kent, Pall Mall and Viceroy, warned the measure would boost illegal trade by 40%, claiming cigarette prices in Bulgaria are the highest as measured against per capita income. (Dnevnik)

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Editorial: Smoking and sin taxes  

There have been twofold messages from the European Union. The first is that Bulgaria has a limited time to bring its excises on tobacco products up to EU levels, and if reports about the planned increase in taxes on tobacco are correct, will do so ahead of schedule.

The second message from the EU is that it would like to have rules applicable universally across the bloc to discourage smoking, which Brussels says killed about 20 000 non-smokers a year through secondary smoke.

In Bulgaria, laws requiring separate non-smoking areas have proven to be a bad joke, and it is understandable that people sniff at plans to widen the "ban" in 2010. But high prices discourage purchases.

Most of all, those who oppose smoking say that the habit has an enormous impact on the economy through lost productivity and public costs of health care - and again, in Bulgaria, health care gets a low rating, with several reports of cancer treatment facilities being under-funded and inadequate. Inasmuch as higher prices for cigarettes will make smokers gasp, there will be others who will cheer.

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• Burning money 

UP IN SMOKE: Contraband cigarettes are incinerated in Montenegro in 2007. Bulgarian tobacco interests allege that reported plans to send cigarette excises soaring from 2010 will push business towards the illegal market.

Bulgaria, which has the second-highest rate of smoking in the European Union, is said to be set to make smokers cough up about 30 per cent more for cigarettes in 2010 - bringing forward by a year increased excises to EU levels in a move designed to help state coffers through increased revenue and decreased health costs.

Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov has confirmed that excises on tobacco products will go up, although with the 2010 Budget not yet finalised, there is no official confirmation yet of the precise price hikes.

Media reports of the planned move brought an outcry from tobacco interests who said that it would worsen Bulgaria's already considerable cigarette smuggling problem and drive the country's tobacco products giant Bulgartabak to bankruptcy. , , ,

Bulgaria's northern neighbour and fellow EU member Romania has taken the route of increased excises - twice in 2009 - on the way to matching EU levels in 2010. Lithuania also has twice raised excises in 2009, pushing cigarette prices up by close to 50 per cent in a year.

A sole reversal of the trend was in Croatia

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Burning money 

UP IN SMOKE: Contraband cigarettes are incinerated in Montenegro in 2007. Bulgarian tobacco interests allege that reported plans to send cigarette excises soaring from 2010 will push business towards the illegal market.

Bulgaria, which has the second-highest rate of smoking in the European Union, is said to be set to make smokers cough up about 30 per cent more for cigarettes in 2010 - bringing forward by a year increased excises to EU levels in a move designed to help state coffers through increased revenue and decreased health costs.

Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov has confirmed that excises on tobacco products will go up, although with the 2010 Budget not yet finalised, there is no official confirmation yet of the precise price hikes.

Media reports of the planned move brought an outcry from tobacco interests who said that it would worsen Bulgaria's already considerable cigarette smuggling problem and drive the country's tobacco products giant Bulgartabak to bankruptcy.

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• Bulgaria raising cigarette tax to curb smoking  

Bulgaria's new government will raise excise duties on cigarettes 43 percent next year in a bid to curb smoking and relieve the health care system, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

The Balkan country, which is home to 7.6 million people, has the second highest percentage of smokers in Europe and has decided to ban smoking in all public spaces from June next year.

Bulgaria ranks second after Greece in the EU in terms of number of regular smokers as a percentage of the population, according to a Eurobarometer survey. More than half of men and more than a third of women smoke.

Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said the excise duties on cigarettes will jump to 76 euros ($110.7) per 1,000 pieces as of January 1 from 53 euros

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Radical Smoking Wins Support 

The proposal for licensing tobacco retailers has found strong support, including the idea of having plain cigarette packs bearing only health warnings, comes after researchers canvassed public health physicians, Ministry of Health policy officials, other departments and journalists.

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Bulgaria aims to sell cigarette maker by year-end 

Bulgaria hopes to carry out the delayed sale of its dominant cigarette maker, Bulgartabak Holding BTHG.BB, by the end of the year, the energy and economy minister Traicho Traikov said on Monday.

This will be the fourth attempt by the country to dispose of the former tobacco monopoly, whose key assets are the cigarette mills Sofia BT SOFBT.BB and Blagoevgrad BT BLABT.BB.

"The best moment for the sale of the company was irretrievably missed and at present the company is losing its market share," Traikov told reporters. "But we still can have a positive effect from the sale," he said.

Traikov said there was investor interest and that a deal could be sealed by the end of the year.

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• Fake and dangerous Victory Light cigarettes on the Bulgarian market  

Fake Victory Light cigarettes are in circulation on the Bulgarian market, and batches of them were intercepted in Kyustendil and Blagoevgrad, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) said on July 28 2009.

The apparent discrepancies are in the packaging, ingredients and the lack of an excise stamp, Bulgartabak Holding, maker of Victory Light - long the brand leader among smokers in Bulgaria - said in a statement. . . .

"The worst part of the matter is that we don;t know where they come from and what's inside," said Ivan Bilarev, executive manager of Bulgartabak Holding. He said that the fakes could harm the image of the Victory brand and that "anything lacking an excise stamp is a serious blow to the state budget".

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Tobacco Monopoly Sale – Important Part of Bulgarian Budget Revenues 

The sale of state-owned tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac is a vital part of the revenues for the state budget, Bulgaria’s Minister of Economy Petar Dimitrov, said Tuesday.

According to him, even if the sale of the company in the time of crisis may not be the healthiest option for its future, the expected revenue is an important part of the state budget.

When asked if the company will be sold for ‘mere pennies’ the minister replied that ‘it is absurd for us to ask ourselves for 20 years why Bulgartabac hasn’t been sold, and now all of a sudden to declare it one of the most successful companies of Europe’.

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Bulgaria to sell Bulgartabac Holding after elections 

Bulgaria's tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac Holding will be sold only after the country's general elections scheduled for July 5, stated Todor Nikolov CEO of the country's Privatisation Agency, adding that 'the agency has not yet decided on the sell-off method.'

However, earlier in the month, the Economy Ministry noted that the tobacco factory would be put up for a public tender. Sources said that the Ministry was selecting the criteria under which the candidates would be selected.

However, experts warn that any further delay in the privatization deal would have a negative impact on the company.

Bulgartabac Holding would be privatized as a package, including its two remaining plants in Sofia and Blagoevgrad, as well as a smaller one in Yasen.

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Bulgarian parliament bans smoking in all indoor public places  

Bulgaria's parliament adopted a law Friday extending a smoking ban to all indoor areas in the traditional tobacco-growing Balkan country.

The amendment to the country's health law has stirred fierce debates between smokers and nonsmokers in parliament.

More than 40 percent of Bulgaria's 7.6 million population are believed to smoke.

The ban, which takes effect June 1, 2010, is part of an anti-smoking government strategy that includes price hikes on cigarettes and media campaigns.

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Bulgaria Second in EU Adult Smoking Survey 

European statistical service Eurobarometer has reported that Bulgaria ranks second highest in the EU for the percentage of adult smokers.

The Eurobarometer poll carried out between December 13 and 17, 2008 found that 39% of Bulgaria's adult population smoke regularly or occasionally, BTA reported.

The ranking list is headed by Greece, where smokers represent 42 % of the adult population.

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Bulgaria No Smoking in Bulgaria Indoor Public Spaces after June 2010 

The MPs post-voting opinion was that the practical enactment of that ban would be doubtfully effective. File photo

The Bulgarian MPs approved Friday a smoking ban in indoor public spaces, effective June 1, 2010.

The MPs post-voting opinion was that the practical enactment of that ban would be doubtfully effective, Darik Radio reported.

"We are passing a not-working law. It is not clear how it is going to be supervised", BSP MP, Stoyan Vitanov, commented.

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