Article | Going ‘Super Value’ in New Zealand: cigarette pricing strategies during a period of sustained annual excise tax increases

ASPIRE researchers recently found that tobacco companies have undermined the intended impact of excise taxes by creating new lower-priced brands or brand variants, and by manipulating excise tax increases in their brand pricing. Using data supplied by tobacco companies to the Ministry of Health, they revealed extensive ‘over-shifting’, where companies have raised prices beyond the excise tax specified, and considerable market restructuring, as they expanded the lower cost brands and variants offered. These changes reduce the impetus to quit and undermine Government policy. Introducing minimum pricing could help prevent tobacco companies from manipulating measures designed to encourage smoking cessation and discourage smoking uptake.

Gendall P, Gendall K, Branston JR, et al Going ‘Super Value’ in New Zealand: cigarette pricing strategies during a period of sustained annual excise tax increases. Tobacco Control Published Online First: 25 August 2022. doi: 10.1136/tc-2021-057232

Public Health Expert Blog: How can we address tobacco companies’ manipulation of cigarette prices?