An Overlooked Market: Loose Cigarettes, Informal Vendors, and Their Implications for Tobacco Taxation

There is substantial evidence worldwide on tobacco taxation and its effectiveness as a tool to control tobacco use. However, a crucial aspect of the market for cigarettes in many low- and middle-income countries has been ignored – the prevalence for selling loose (single) cigarettes, rather than packs of cigarettes. This Research in Brief explores this mostly informal market for loose cigarettes, its dynamics, and unintended policy effects.

Analysis of two main sources of data – the African Cigarettes Prices Project from the Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP), and data from all low- and middle-income countries covered by the International Tobacco Control’s (ITC) Policy Evaluation Project – which include information on loose cigarette prices, shows that there is a large market for loose cigarettes in low- and middle-income countries.

Summary of ICTD Working Paper 154 written by Max Gallien, Giovanni Occhiali and Hana Ross.