Plain packets would propel illicit trade, says Imperial

Published on Tuesday 2 February 2010 21:02

EMBASSY maker Imperial Tobacco yesterday slammed plans to force firms to sell cigarettes in plain packaging and claimed the move would fuel illicit trade.

The group said UK government proposals, announced on Monday, for generic packaging would make counterfeisance easier.

Imperial added that there was "no credible evidence that young people start smoking or adult smokers continue to smoke because of tobacco packaging".

"We remain strongly opposed to the plain packaging of tobacco products," it said.

The UK would be the first country to introduce a plain packaging rule, which could see current designs scrapped in favour of plain packs with the brand name in text. But the UK Department of Health stressed the plans were at a very early stage.

UK Health Secretary Andy Burnham outlined the idea as part of a raft of measures to cut the number of smokers in England from 21 per cent of the population to one in ten in the next decade. The UK government also hopes to cut the number of young people who start smoking – currently an estimated 200,000 a year.

Imperial yesterday said in a trading update that the UK cigarette market had increased by 1 per cent in 2009, with 45.5 billion cigarettes sold, while the fine-cut tobacco market grew by 21 per cent to 4,650 tonnes. Its average share of the market remained largely steady at 45.2 per cent. The group's brands include JPS, Davidoff, Lambert & Butler and Golden Virginia.