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BAT Kenya has however defended the price increase on its filtered cigarettes, effective last Monday, pegging the decision on production costs. The price increase, it said, was necessary for the business to navigate an increasingly challenging operating environment and enable the company to continue to meet its business obligations, including supporting the livelihoods of over 80,000 Kenyans in its value chain.
Cigarette prices in Kenya have gone up by between 20-33 per cent as manufacturers cash in on products, despite the withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024 that had proposed an excise tax rise. The price of a stick has increased by an average Sh5 at the retail market, for all brands.
For instance, Sportsman, which is one of the most common brands, has had its price increase from Sh15 to Sh20 per stick with a packet now retailing at an average Sh400 up from Sh300. A packet of Embassy is now selling at Sh500 up from Sh400 with a stick going for Sh25. Some retailers are selling the Dunhill brand by up to Sh30 per stick, with a packet going for Sh600, prices retailers and consumers now say went up without notice.
The move has now left consumers of tobacco products questioning whether the government pushed through earlier excise tax proposals in the withdrawn Finance Bill. The Bill, which President William Ruto declined to sign after a countrywide protest, had proposed to increase tax on a mill (1,000 sticks) of filtered cigarettes to Sh4,100 from Sh4,067.03. This would have seen an excise increase from Sh4.07 per cigarette to Sh4.10, meaning a stick would have still gone up by a lower margin compared to the new prices.
Unfiltered sticks’ excise had been proposed to increase to Sh4,100 per mill from Sh2,926, or Sh2.96 per stick. Manufacturers who have since increased prices had earlier opposed the Treasury’s proposals in the Finance Bill which they had indicated would stifle the industry, with an increase in taxes encouraging illicit trade.
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BAT Kenya has however defended the price increase on its filtered cigarettes, effective last Monday, pegging the decision on production costs. The price increase, it said, was necessary for the business to navigate an increasingly challenging operating environment and enable the company to continue to meet its business obligations, including supporting the livelihoods of over 80,000 Kenyans in its value chain.
