Iranians smoke "55 billion cigarettes" annually

An official from the Tobacco Control Center reported that 55 billion cigarettes are consumed annually in Iran, of which six billion are smuggled into the country. This is a 50 percent decrease compared to two years ago.

According to a report by IRNA on Wednesday, July 12, Ali Asghar Ramzi, head of the Tobacco Planning and Monitoring Center, made this announcement at a specialized workshop on combating tobacco smuggling in Mashhad.

He has announced the "value" of the six billion smuggled cigarettes imported into the country at nearly 30 trillion rials.

Ramzi also said that although cigarette smuggling has "been on a downward trend," the amount of cigarette smuggling into the country has "damaged" the "budget, economy, and domestic producers."

The official described smuggled cigarettes as lacking "health warning messages," "very harmful to health," and "mostly counterfeit."

The Director General of the Economic Deputy of the Central Headquarters for Combating Smuggling of Goods and Currency also announced at the opening ceremony of this specialized workshop that the annual amount of smuggled cigarettes discovered in 2016 was "one billion and 740 million threads."

Amir Mohammad Parhamfar stated that "the iceberg of tobacco smuggling has just emerged" and that the fight against it so far is "not much of a source of pride and honor," and announced that the figure in 2013 was only 240 million threads.

According to him, the reason for the decrease in smuggling in the last two years is "the increase in the volume of domestic production," "so that in 2014, the estimated amount of cigarette smuggling into the country was 12.5 billion cigarettes, which increased to six billion cigarettes in 2016."

Perhamfer also confirmed the annual consumption of 55 billion cigarettes in Iran, adding that from this consumption, "100 trillion rials" of costs are imposed on the country.

He also announced that the cost of treatment for tobacco use is two to three times this figure, i.e. 200 to 300 trillion rials.

The Director General of the Economic Deputy of the Central Headquarters for Combating Smuggling of Goods and Currency also warned that in the absence of necessary planning and prevention in curbing tobacco consumption, "Iran, along with Egypt and Pakistan, will have the highest consumption rate relative to the population in the world within the next 40 years."

Previously, a Health Ministry official had said that Iran is ahead of only Afghanistan in terms of tobacco taxes in the region, and that cigarette taxes in the country should be increased sevenfold.

Khosrow Sadeghnet, head of the Environmental and Occupational Health Center of the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education, added that the Ministry of Health had proposed to the Parliament that a tax on tobacco products at the retail supply level of 25 percent be approved, but the Parliament rejected this proposal.

Currently, nearly seven million and 700 thousand people in Iran use various types of tobacco products, and four percent of all deaths over the age of 30 are attributed to tobacco use.

According to the results of a survey, parts of which were published last year, alcohol is the most widely consumed substance in Iran after cigarettes.

Hookah and other substance use are also ranked next in this ranking, but no information has been published on their figures and statistics.

Source: Radio Farda