Hand rolling tobacco imports rise 132% during pandemic

Thursday 06 May 2021

Newly released STAC minutes have shone a light on how islanders' drinking and smoking habits changed during the pandemic.

In a meeting of the Government’s top scientific advisors in February, it was noted all tobacco imports had gone up.

However, hand rolling tobacco saw the most notable increase, rising 132% on the previous year.

Pictured: All tobacco imports saw an uplift in 2020.

The data, obtained from Jersey Customs and Immigration, was presented on 22 February by Officer for Public Health Intelligence, Marguerite Clarke, during a meeting of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Cell (STAC).

Minutes of their meeting, which were only released last week, said that “these increases could be due to people being unable to travel and, as a consequence, not having access to duty free purchases, but could be indicative of an growth in consumption.”

However, they added that “it would not be possible to ascertain if islanders were smoking more until the results from the survey relating to the impact of covid-19 on people were finalised.”

It was noted there was an 18% increase in importations of spirits on the previous year. Similarly, wine imports increased by 5%, and cider increased by 6%. 

However, there was 9% decrease in beer imports, which STAC said was potentially linked to the closure of ‘wet’ pubs during 2020.

Pictured: Imports of spirits were up 18%, with duty on the drinks increasing even more, by 39%.

The Chief Economic Advisor observed that alcohol duty for spirits had increased by 39% on the previous year, as well going up 13% for cider and 12% for wine.

This was described as "a similar picture to the UK, but duty-free consumption in the island was higher than for that jurisdiction."

Analysing these findings, he said that “he was of the view that people had been consuming more alcohol during lockdown and had substituted other types of alcoholic drink for beer, as the pubs had been closed.”

However, he added “he did not believe, as had been suggested, that islanders had been stockpiling items in anticipation of Brexit.”