Cigarette price dissent goes on

Manama : Bahrain has been dried out of cigarettes during the past 48 hours. Supermarkets and cold stores barely have any stocks of cigarettes during the past few days. They claimed that the suppliers stopped delivering stocks, without providing any specific reasons.

According to Consumer Protection Society (CPS), “there’s a disagreement between the suppliers and the authorities, in regards to the expected new prices of cigarettes.”

In a statement issued yesterday, CPS Chairman Majid Nasser called upon the suppliers and the concerned authorities to “swiftly” solve the disagreement between them, in regards to the new prices.”

He said, “The cigarettes market in the country is witnessing many unacceptable behaviours and manipulation of stocking and distribution.”
Nasser mentioned that the situation in Bahrain had pushed some smokers to travel to nearby countries to purchase their brands of cigarettes.

“There are large quantities of cigarettes shipments held at the Kingdom’s seaports. An agreement between the suppliers and the authorities is required so these shipments could be pumped into the market. I hope this matter will be solved soon,” Nasser opined.

The Chairman alleged that the entire disagreement happened after the authorities announced the new prices through official State media on February 9, without reaching a pre-agreement with cigarettes suppliers. “Our interest in the matter isn’t to encourage and promote smoking, but the society is concerned more about the concept of maintaining the market’s stability and its supply-and-demand balance. It should be maintained under the umbrella of the economic system that is followed in the Kingdom,” he said.

Nasser also said that the increase of tobacco products prices, including cigarettes, would surely motivate and push more people abstain from smoking.

“This will reduce the number of smokers in the country, maintain a healthy society and eventually lessen the state’s expenses on treating diseases that are caused by smoking,” he added.

Following reports and official statements made by the beginning of February, a new tariff was expected to be announced during the past weeks. This came after rumours were intensively circulated about the new prices of tobacco products and alcoholic beverages, claiming an increase of 200 pc.

This caused a state chaos in the cigarettes markets as many smokers purchased large quantities of cigarettes, while some retailers sold them for higher prices.

The decision of increasing the prices was apparently made by Customs Affairs in Interior Ministry.

On February 9, DT News quoted Parliament and Information Affairs Minister Isa bin Abdulrahman Al Hammadi saying, “It’s a decision taken very recently and was endorsed by the concerned Minister. It will be automatically enforced on a number of private commodities.”

Industry, Commerce and Tourism Ministry also stated that the expected increment won’t exceed the barrier of 200 fils and confirmed that several outlets were warned over violations related to manipulating cigarettes prices and trade.