Tue, 21-Oct-2025

Pakistan’s Tobacco Exports Witness 103.65% Surge

‘Pakistan’s Tobacco Tax Policy Boosts Illicit Trade’

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has reported a 13.83% increase in food group exports during the first half of the current fiscal year (2024-25) compared to the same period last year. Exports of food items reached $3.959 billion during July-December 2024-25, up from $3.478 billion in the corresponding period of 2023-24. Key contributors to … Read more

Experts Call for FED increase on Tobacco to Help Economy and save lives

Experts Call for FED increase on Tobacco to Help Economy and save lives

Islamabad- The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) advocates 26 percent FED increase on cigarettes to bridge the gap between health burden and tax revenue. Muhammad Sabir, Principal Economist at the Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC), shared the recommendations at an event organized to launch a tobacco taxation simulation … Read more

Healthcare activists urge immediate implementation of Tobacco Health Levy in Pakistan

Tobacco

Islamabad, January 16, 2024 – In a press release issued by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), health activists emphasized the urgent need for the implementation of the Tobacco Health Levy in Pakistan, a measure that has been pending since 2019. The levy, if executed in a timely manner, … Read more

Nearly 25 million people smoke cigarettes in Pakistan

smoke
  • More than 15 million use snuff in Pakistan.
  • 1.2 million lives could be saved in Pakistan.
  • All public places have been declared smoke free.

ISLAMABAD: The International Research Institute has revealed that nearly two and a half million people smoke cigarettes in Pakistan, while the number of snuff users is more than half.

The International Research Institute released a report on the status of tobacco control in Pakistan, according to which about 25 million people smoke cigarettes and more than 15 million use snuff in Pakistan.

A report on the tobacco situation in Pakistan, prepared by the international organization Tobacco Harm Reduction, states that 1.2 million lives could be saved by adopting better tobacco control methods in Pakistan.

According to the global research report, the total number of adult smokers in the country is 23.9 million, more than 6 percent of the population uses vaping and e-cigarettes, while more than 15.9 million use snuff. All public places of the country have been declared smoke free.

Dr. Derek Yach has written in his compiled report that products designed to prevent the harm of tobacco are being used by 150 million people worldwide.

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72% of Women in Pakistan Revealed as Regular Cigarette Smokers: Report

Cigarette

72% of women in Pakistan are cigarette smokers. Pakistan consumes 80 billion cigarettes annually, with unknown age distribution. Urgent calls for awareness campaigns and tobacco control policies due to the high prevalence of female smokers. A sub-committee meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the capital city unveiled startling revelations about cigarette smoking in … Read more

Plans to lessen nicotine in cigarettes are unveiled by the White House

US plans to reduce the quantity of nicotine in cigarettes sold to non-addictive levels. The initiatives could significantly lower cancer fatalities. The move is likely to face pushback by the tobacco industry. It is planned to reduce the quantity of nicotine in cigarettes sold in the US to negligible or non-addictive levels. The initiatives, which … Read more

Mexico bans sales of ‘harmful’ e-cigarettes

Mexico

Mexico banned the sale of electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices on Tuesday due to concerns about their health effects, according to the government. According to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, claiming that e-cigarettes are a safe alternative to inhaling tobacco smoke is a “lie.” “The vapors are also harmful for health,” Lopez Obrador told … Read more

Tobacco kills millions of people, destroys millions of hectares annually: WHO

ANKARA: According to the World Health Organization, tobacco use kills over 8 million people worldwide each year, and tobacco farming destroys nearly 3.5 million hectares (8.6 million acres) of land each year (WHO). The “tobacco life cycle” not only harms human health, but it also harms the environment, as tobacco farming contributes to the deforestation … Read more

Cuban tobacco yield up in smoke amid fertiliser shortages

tobacco

VIÑALES, Cuba: Yurisniel Cabrera, 35, is a fourth-generation tobacco farmer, eking out a meager living from the leaves used to make Cuba’s fabled cigars. Clients can fork out more than $10 for a single cigar, but for his months of labor, Cabrera earned only a few hundred US dollars from last year’s harvest. This year, … Read more

Deadly tobacco

tobacco

KARACHI: The tobacco industry in Pakistan enjoys a thriving customer base, currently comprising at least 24 million active tobacco users in the country, Bol News has learnt. According to a study titled ‘The Huge Economic Cost of Tobacco-Induced Diseases in Pakistan’, conducted by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), the total costs attributable to … Read more

Swiss eye tobacco advertising clampdown

GENEVA – The Swiss will vote Sunday on whether to tighten their notoriously lax tobacco laws by banning virtually all advertising of the health-hazardous products. Switzerland lags far behind most wealthy nations in restricting tobacco advertising, a situation widely blamed on hefty lobbying by some of the world’s biggest tobacco companies headquartered in the country. … Read more

Illicit trades causing Rs320 billion annual loss

illicit trades

LAHORE: The flourishing illicit trades of tobacco, tea, tyres, lubricants and pharmaceuticals are denting the national exchequer with a loss of Rs320 billion annually in taxes. The lack of political will, corruption in tax administration and political influence of evaders are the main causes of the illegal trades. Unabated smuggling, counterfeit and non-duty paid production … Read more

NA committee recommends fixing price of tobacco at Rs260/kg

The National Assembly of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly’s Special Committee on Agricultural Products recommended that the minimum indicative price of tobacco should be fixed at Rs260/kg. The committee instructed the Pakistan Tobacco Board to ensure that no stock is left unsold with the farmers. It also said that urgent steps were needed to ensure that cigarette manufacturers purchase 1.4 million … Read more

Fire, tobacco and spirits: Venezuelans fight Covid with ritual

Fire, tobacco and spirits: Venezuelans fight Covid with ritual

VENEZUELA: With a single kick, Victor Medina collapses a burning pyre, then crosses the smouldering embers in his bare feet. He walks purposefully with a distant gaze while embodying an indigenous spirit during a ritual on Mount Sorte in northwestern Venezuela dedicated to ending the Covid-19 pandemic. Medina grabs a burning branch and slaps it … Read more

LSM sector grew at 16-year high of 14.85%: adviser

LSM sector

ISLAMABAD: The Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) sector grew at a 16-year high of 14.85 per cent in FY 2021, a senior government official said. In a tweet, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood said that the de-industrialisation that was taking place in Pakistan has now been reversed and this … Read more

Rise in Pakistan’s tobacco export

pakistan tobacco industry

The Tobacco farmers and laborers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have appreciated the withdrawal of the advance tax of Rs500 per kg on tobacco crops. Reportedly, this withdrawal has caused an increase of 137.5% in exports of tobacco crop in the first month of the current fiscal year. Speaking at a press conference at the National Press Club, … Read more

Increase in tax on tobacco can generate funds to combat COVID-19: Report

cigarette

Pakistan is amongst the developing countries with a very high tobacco prevalence and high mortality rate, where above 166,000 people die of tobacco-related diseases every year in Pakistan. 70 per cent of those get damaged lungs due to second-hand smoke at indoor places. If these stats weren’t alarming enough, the current global pandemic of COVID-19 … Read more

Hundreds of patients suffer from mouth cancer says Sindh High court

69 ‘Gutka’ factories are working in Karachi

Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday directed the police to file cases under section 337A against the people involved in sale and manufacturing of Gutka and other harmful substances. A high court bench was hearing a contempt of court petition against I.G. Sindh Police and others on non-compliance of the court ruling about ban on … Read more