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The Egyptian Gazette
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 05:12:18 PM


Egypt's Eastern Tobacco Company has raised the price of nine cigarette brands as of Monday, the firm said in statement to the Egyptian Stock Exchange.

Prices of Wings, Florida and Boston were raised to LE4.25 ($0.71), LE4.25 and LE4.75 from LE4.2 and LE4.5 per pack respectively. Cleopatra and Mondial brands were increased to LE5, Eastern Company said.
Egypt's tobacco monopoliser kept the prices of popular brands such as Golden at LE4.25 per pack.
"The price increases are marginal and don't exceed LE0.25 per pack. The move comes in line with the company's pricing policy to cover rising cost," said a company official on condition of anonymity.
In April, the firm forecast a drop in net profit in fiscal year 2011-12. The company said it expected net profit to reach LE650 million in its next financial year, 29.7 per cent less than the figure it previously forecast for 2010-11, which ends in June.
Eastern, which also makes higher-margin foreign brands for multinationals such as British American Tobacco and Philip Morris, has forecast net profit of LE925 million in the current year.


http://213.158.162.45/~egyptian/index.php?action=news&id=18499&title=Egyptian firm raises tobacco prices


IMHO increase prices even more. Smoking is very damaging to the own health and also to second-hand smokers. I can't believe that people want to make a profit out of other's people addictions and misery. [Confused]

It irritates me when I see people not eaten well or enough but smoking always goes....

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Smokers fuming after price increase


By ashraf Sadek – The Egyptian Gazette
Thursday, May 26, 2011 04:29:09 PM


Egypt's 14 million die-hard smokers were angry on Wednesday because the Government-owned Eastern Tobacco Company abruptly raised the prices of cigarettes by 50 piasters for the local brands.

An average Egyptian smoker consumes around 2,500 cigarettes a year, according to a study conducted by the governmental Assiut Centre for Environmental Studies.

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Under this surprise decision, which came into effect late Tuesday, sellers started selling cigarettes at the new prices, which left the nation’s smokers fuming.
The vendors claim that there is an acute shortage in cigarettes because the company has stopped providing them with their daily quotas in order to sell the products at the “new prices”.
When the company decided to hike up cigarette prices, smokers labelled the move a “new disaster” that hit their finances.
The company, meanwhile, claims that the increase would add a total sum of LE1.2 billion to the Government's semi-empty coffers after the January 25 revolution. Kiosk owners and tobacconists started selling a Cleopatra box of 20 cigarettes for LE5.5 instead of LE5.00.
The price increase for other popular or foreign brands varied from 25 piasters to LE1.
"It is the company and not retailers which is behind the shortage," owner of a Cairo-based kiosk Amm Farghali said.
"It is a mad rise in prices. Every day, after the revolution the Egyptians wake to find a new price rise, even in cigarette prices," Sayyed Mohamed, a retired employee who has been smoking for more than 40 years, complained.
"If the Government wants the people to quit the habit by making it more expensive to smoke, it is obviously a bad idea," said Hala Ragheb, a female schoolteacher living in the Cairo working class suburb of Hadayek el-Kobba.
Hala, who saw the decision as unfair and pledged to stage a symbolic rally against it, said that smoking cigarettes was part of the Egyptian culture.
She added that increasing the cigarette prices annoyed smokers and would force them towards firing up a shisha, as the water pipe is known here.
Hala, who used to smoke a foreign brand of cigarette, said that she might shift to shisha because the decision did not include the maassel, tobacco soaked in a mix of molasses and dried fruit.
"Definitely, I may buy a small shisha and smoke it at home rather than paying more money for cigarettes," she said.
Adel Mahmoud, a taxi driver who sees smoking as relief from the daily grind, said he was angry when he first heard about the decision, which would add an extra financial burden to his household budget.
"Nowadays, the Government considers smoking cigarettes a luxury and wants the smokers to pay for it. It is another financial burden," he said.
The consumption of tobacco, alcohol and drugs has soared in Egypt during the past three months because of anxiety and political turmoil that gripped the country after the January 25 revolution, a recent study showed.
An average smoker consumes an estimated 2,500 cigarettes a year, according to the study conducted by the governmental Assiut Centre for Environmental Studies. More than half of Egyptian males smoke a total 20 million cigarettes a day.
Last year, the Health Ministry said that Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, has more than 14 million smokers �" which corresponds roughly to the combined populations of Jordan, Lebanon and Israel. It said Egyptians spent about LE5 billion a year on tobacco, or almost 22 per cent of the average income on a per capita basis.


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Anti-smoking campaign urged in Egypt


By Ashraf Sadek - The Egyptian Gazette
Monday, July 4, 2011 03:27:42 PM


CAIRO - Egypt, a country where offering a cigarette is a sort of greeting, needs a comprehensive plan to reduce the number of smokers or the habit could end up reaching school children especially in the coastal city of Alexandria, a doctor recently warned.


About 100,000 Egyptians get sick annually from diseases associated with smoking despite being aware of the dangers of smoking.

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Egypt is the Middle East's largest cigarette producer and Egyptians are the region's most enthusiastic smokers, who never stop buying cigarettes even if their prices are increased.
However, Egyptian cigarettes are also among the cheapest in the Middle East and a packet can cost as little as $1.
A company in Alexandria has launched a lamentable promotion campaign under the theme of "Cigarettes for All", which includes selling a five-cigarette pack for just 20 cents despite a three-year-old ban on advertising and promotion to reduce tobacco consumption.
"A post-revolution Egypt needs to enact national laws that set the standard for tobacco control for the entire country and are clear, strong and enforceable," Dr. Ahmed Magdi, a respiratory disease specialist, told The Gazette.
He said that Egypt needs to implement comprehensive measures that will change people's behaviour and lead to fewer people smoking.
Dr. Magdi said about 100,000 Egyptians get sick annually from diseases associated with smoking despite being aware of the dangers of smoking.
He suggested the Government of Essam Sharaf should enforce a 2008 law that bans smoking in public places and selling cigarettes to persons below 18 years.
The Government still needs to enforce law banning smoking in public places and selling cigarettes to minors to cut tobacco use, he recommended.
"Although the previous government of Ahmed Nazif has banned smoking on public transport, it is still allowed in many public places, such as restaurants, and it is not uncommon to see people smoking even in hospitals," Dr. Magdi lamented.
However, he acknowledged that smoking was so pervasive in Egypt that efforts to curb it would upset the majority of the Egyptians.
"Fighting tobacco is not easy, especially when there is a state of monopoly on tobacco production," he said, adding that there is always be strong opposition to tobacco control in Egypt.
He suggested raising tobacco prices and banning the Alexandria company from selling cheap cigarette packs to the people.
"I would like to stop smoking. But I can't. When you see a cheap pack of cigarette, it has an effect. It does encourage you to smoke," said Adel Nessim, a university student. He is one of the adults in the country of 83.5 million people, who use tobacco in some form.
Dr. Magdi suggested that the Ministry of Health and the local media should launch a health education campaign to explain to the people how harmful tobacco is.
"The campaign must be using a variety of methods in Egypt, where the religion will work against smoking. In the meantime, it should have the active support of the young people, who participated in the January 25 revolution," he said
In order to achieve its goal, the much needed campaign has to open up a new front in Egypt's media by forcing a total ban on scenes of tobacco smoking in all soap operas, or drama, or anything else, Dr. Magdi said.
He said that the campaign should confront the tobacco companies' indirect methods of advertising, which encourage the young to buy their lethal products.
"After the revolution, parents should raise a smoking-free generation through raising awareness about the deleterious effects of smoking," he said, adding that the campaign must target schools, universities, sporting clubs, youth centres and factories.
Dr. Magdi has condemned the company's promotion campaign and accused it of killing Egyptians with cigarettes.


http://213.158.162.45/~egyptian/index.php?action=news&id=19643&title=Anti-smoking%20campaign%20urged%20in%20Egypt

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