According to a report from Jornal de Notícias, compared to last year, Portuguese are smoking more, with a 19.5% increase in cigarette consumption between January and April 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

This increase means that over 2.7 billion cigarettes were sold in this period.

Faced with growing consumption, Jornal de Notícias reports that the Government expects that the Tobacco Tax will generate 1,433 million euros more, that is, 20 million more than last year.

Specialists contacted by the newspaper say that the explicit photographs on tobacco packets, which were launched six years ago, are not enough to reduce consumption and that it is necessary to continue to raise prices.

Data from the Tax and Customs Authority show that this is the first time that tobacco consumption has increased since the beginning of the pandemic. In the last three years, consumption had declined.

However, despite the increase recorded in early 2022, cigarette consumption remains below 2019 figures, before the pandemic.