Comprehensive Study of the Tobacco Market in Egypt

This Report was written by the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport (AASTMT) in Egypt. The report assessed the tobacco market using a littered pack collection survey, as well as interviews with key stakeholders. The researchers find that local brands dominate the market, with 82.3% of all collected packs, yet represent on 17.2% of brand variation. Furthermore, just two local brands, Cleopatra and LM, control 73% of the market share which reflects strong brand loyalty. Illicit brands, on the other hand, make up 15.6% of total packs collected, yet represent 74.2% of total brands, suggesting small-scale, fractured operations. Imported brands represent only 2.1% of packs and 8.6% of brand variety. 71.04% of packs were medium-priced brands, while 27.69% and 1.27% of packs were high- and low-priced brands, respectively. The low-priced segment consists solely of one illicit brand: Kentucky Selects. All legal packs complied with required text and graphic warnings, along with a valid tax stamp and QR code. In contrast, all illicit brands lacked tax stamps and a valid QR code. 44 illicit brands also had no health warnings and 20 brands only had text warnings, often not in Arabic. Overall, 99.5% of high-priced packs, 80% of medium-priced packs, and 0% of low-priced packs complied with these requirements. The report concludes with recommendations for policy makers to improve regulatory oversight and enforcement, alongside raising tobacco taxes to raise tax revenues and decrease consumption.

A Policy Brief based on this report can be found here.