NEWS
4 ASIAN TRADER 4 APRIL 2025
The old-fashioned big trolley
shop is popular again as Brits
return to the ofce, resuming
their pre-Covid lifestyles.
“People are back in the ofce
much more, so people are short
of time again … and that’s one of
the reasons why we’re seeing
this resurgence [in] the big
weekly trolley shop,” Simon
Roberts, Sainsbury CEO, told The
Times.
“If you can go to one store and
be certain you can get Monday
night’s tea for the family for
under £5 and something [nicer]
for the weekend … more and
more customers are making a
decision to do that.”
Under Roberts, who is closing
in on five years in the top job,
Sainsbury’s has refocused on
food and, he argues, is now
reaping the benefits. Since he
took over, Sainsbury’s has
increased its market share from
14.9% to 15.7%.
“Five years ago, we couldn’t
fill up our supermarkets, our
costs were high, volumes were
going backward and we were
losing market share.”
Big trolley shop resurges as
Brits return to ofce
Up in smoke
ith the Tobacco and Vapes Bill fast approaching,
the Institute for Economic Afairs (IEA) has
released some breathtaking numbers outlining
illicit tobacco sales in the UK.
They are figures that throw into stark relief the backward-
ness and bankruptcy of successive governments’ eforts to
curb smoking and raise revenue through taxes on tobacco.
They reveal just how dangerously close the legal market for
tobacco – and vapes – is to collapse, with the illicit sector fast
outpacing legitimate sales, and tax revenues vanishing even
as the number of smokers has barely fallen.
The IEA’s Dr Christopher Snowdon revealed that legal
tobacco sales have plummeted since 2021 despite the number
of smokers dropping by less than 1%. At the same time, the
exchequer’s tax take from tobacco has inevitably fallen, too.
To be exact, the number of duty-paid cigarettes sold fell
from 23.6 billion in 2021 to 13.2 billion in 2024, a decline of
44.4%, says Snowden: “In the same period, sales of duty-paid
hand-rolling tobacco (HRT) have dropped from 8.6 million
kilograms to 4.5 million kilograms, a decline of 47.6%.
Overall, the number of cigarettes bought on the legal market
fell by 45.5% between 2021 and 2024.”
This is catastrophic in more ways than one. Not only is the
illegal market, dominated by criminal gangs, fast taking over
an entire industry, but a massive amount of funding is being
lost because no duty is being paid. Most of all, however, the
livelihoods of producers and retailers are being placed at risk,
not to mention the safety of smokers, subjecting themselves
to goodness-knows what poisons and impurities that lurk in
their illicit purchases – from rat droppings to asbestos, afrms
PML’s new head of prevention of illicit sales, Catherine Goger.
The method UK governments have used to deal with
smoking and health has for decades been lazily and compla-
cently to impose punitive tax rises on tobacco products. They
know full well that as an addictive substance its demand is
inelastic, and smokers (disproportionately poorer people)
will simply have to ofer up more of their incomes to satisfy
their habit rather than quit. But there comes a time at which –
as Snowden points out – the welcome tax revenues will begin
to decline. It is plotted on a graph called the Lafer Curve,
where, when the level of tax becomes too high, people stop
paying it ...
If demand remains the same, it means that smuggled or
counterfeit produce is replacing legitimate goods people now
refuse to buy, which has been for quite some time now the
position with cigarettes. We reported in our last issue that
hand-rolling tobacco is now more expensive than silver. That
sends normally law-abiding people to the shady side of the
market.
This sort of greedy, narrow-minded legislation merely
cultivates criminality and destroys economic prosperity.
Encouraging the use of vapes was the perfect way to wean
smokers of tobacco, if the government was truly interested
in health rather than tax revenue. But now they have decided
to tax vapes punitively as well. Draw your own conclusions.
Smoking rates in parts of
England have increased for the
first time in nearly two decades
according to new research.
Industry experts suspect
misinformation around vapes
and impending regulation on
flavours are pushing vape users
back to smoking cigarettes.
While smoking rates have
decreased since 2006, the rate
of decline has flatlined from
2020, and in some areas of the
UK smoking rates are increas-
ing again.
Researchers Haypp, looked
into vapers’ perception of
harm across a range of nicotine
products, highlighting a
serious lack of awareness when
it comes to which products are
more harmful than others,
potentially contributing to
this rise in cigarette use.
The survey showed
consumers did not see a
significant diference in harm
levels between cigarettes,
vapes, and nicotine pouches.
In fact, respondents
believed that the three
products were similarly
harmful, rating all three as
being between 4.5 to 6 out of
10, on a scale from not harmful
to very harmful.
This is a shocking statistic
given that there is a substantial
body of evidence, including
NHS research, that proves that
cigarettes are much more
harmful than vapes and
nicotine pouches.
20% of current vape users
would return to smoking
cigarettes if vapes were no
longer available to them, 37%
would return to smoking
cigarettes if vape flavours were
banned, and 10% if the dispos-
able vape ban in June comes
into force
Markus Lindblad, Nicotine
Expert and Head of External
Afairs at Haypp, said, “Indus-
try experts have been con-
cerned about [these trends] for
some time now.”
Ex-smokers return to tobacco amid misinformation
Vapers start to quit
Vapers start to quit
vaping for cigarettes
vaping for cigarettes