The tobacco industry does not stop either despite the fact that the number of regular smokers in Spain is at minimum records. And it does not do so despite the fact that inflation has also affected the entire tobacco value chain, where the rise in fuel, electricity and fertilizers, added to higher labor costs, have had a serious impact in later phases. from production, curing, transformation and processing to bringing the tobacco to the final customers.
All this, logically, has had an impact on sales, which have improved their records thanks to the recovery of tourism, the complete reopening of nightlife and the massive arrival of visitors to the geographies with the highest consumption in summer. Cigarette sales in Spain amounted to 10,076 million euros, growing by 5.6% compared to the previous year. Prices remained fairly stable throughout the year except in December, a surge that raised the average cost of a cigarette box to 4.79 euros. Rolling tobacco closed the year at 3.73 euros, while pipe tobacco was around 3.25 euros, continuing its progressive rise in the last two years.
By provinces, most of the business is in Madrid (1,212 million), Barcelona (1,082 million) and Girona (562 million), given the greater presence of commercial establishments in the border areas with France. But the greatest growth from one year to the next was recorded by the Balearic Islands, with 19.3% more sales; Girona, with 18%, and Lleida, with 16.8%. Guipúzcoa, Alicante and Málaga are also above double digits.
National consumption of tobacco packs
Breaking down data, national and habitual consumption of packs rose 1.9%, while sales made for tourist or cross-border reasons rose 22.5%. By brand, Marlboro was again the most sold, although it lost market share compared to the previous year, with 13.6% of sales. It is followed by Camel, which grew half a point to 11.7%; and below are Lucky Strike (7.4%), Fortuna (7.38%) and Winston Classic (7.23%). By manufacturer, the market is monopolized by Philip Morris, which fell a point and a half to 28.7% of the total share, Altadis/Imperial Tobacco (27.8%) and JTI, with 26.9% of sales.
Although on a much smaller scale, cigarette sales also grew by 7% to generate a value of 484 million, while rolling tobacco rose at the same rate, leaving up to 1,162 million. But if there is a tobacco that grows especially, it is the pipe, whose sales shot up 20% to 298 million, almost 50 more than in 2021. In total, the State collected 7,075 million euros from the application of the special manufacturing tax, 359 more than the previous year, to which must be added another 1,709 million in VAT, which also grew by 5.6%.
Two thirds of the Spanish production is located in the Canary Islands, which saw its figures grow until it reached 3,000 million cigarettes produced last year. On the peninsula there is no production of this product, but there is cigars, where new figures are in favor of the insular economy: 926 million produced compared to the 856 produced by the peninsular factories, almost monopolized by the production of Altadis in Santander.
But if there is a place where the gross economic activity of tobacco is located, that is the distribution, almost monopolized by Logista, which this year has managed to substantially improve its income. The listed company sold 98% of the packs that circulated in Spain, up to a total of 2,144 million, 3.9% more than the previous year (2,064 million). The distribution of rolling tobacco also dominates, with almost 6.5 million kilos moved by Spain, a figure 4.4% higher than that of the previous year.
largest export of tobacco
Despite the fact that last year Spain exported more tobacco – the equivalent of 10 million euros more, up to 243 million – its net balance continues to be very negative, importing a large part of the production for almost 1,450 million euros. Poland stands out above all, from where shipments have grown by 53% from one year to the next, reaching a value of 547 million euros. Portugal is the first country to which the Spanish tobacco industry exports, worth 32 million, in addition to 82 million to “undefined” territories specifically.
Although tobacco production tries to join the wave of sustainability, calculations by the Ministry of Finance calculate that the water footprint of the 2022 harvest, which includes data on the amount of water provided by irrigation to produce each kilo of tobacco, was the The highest in recent years: 1,298 liters, compared to 1,231 the previous year, due to the drought that devastated part of Spain. In terms of pollution, last year’s production is the least polluting of the last four, with a carbon footprint of 1,456 kg of CO2 equivalent for each kilo of cured tobacco.
