Tobacco.org

• Smoking up despite ban, hike 

SMOKERS in Singapore lit up 16 million more cigarettes a month last year despite being banned from smoking in more public places and being hit by record-high cigarette prices in 2007.

According to figures from the Singapore Customs, about 2.17 million kg of cigarettes - or 2.17 billion sticks - were sold last year - more than the 1.98 billion sticks sold in 2007. Last year's sales also hit a three-year high, crossing the two billion mark for the first time since 2005, when 2.09 billion cigarettes were sold.

Though sales dipped in 2006, a year after tobacco taxes shot up by 20 per cent, they went up in the last two years.

This is despite two price hikes in 2006 and 2007

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