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Tag: SIngapore

  • Singapore: Smoking Cost Up

    Singapore: Smoking Cost Up

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    The cost of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages in Singapore has increased by 11 percent from the previous year, according to the latest data from the Singapore Department of Statistics, reports The Star. 

    The price increase follows a 15 percent excise duty increase for tobacco products included in the government’s 2023 budget.  

    Singapore’s key consumer price gauge rose 5 percent in March, slightly lower than the forecast 5.1 percent increase.  

    The Monetary Authority of Singapore said that core inflation will remain elevated in the next few months but should progressively ease in the second half of 2023 and end the year significantly lower. 

  • Singapore Tobacco Excise Duty to Increase

    Singapore Tobacco Excise Duty to Increase

    Image: zephyr_p | Adobe Stock

    Singapore’s government is raising the excise duty on all tobacco products by 15 percent, effective Feb. 14, 2023, according to Channel News Asia. The move is aimed at discouraging consumption, according to Finance Minister Lawrence Wong’s budget speech.

    The increase is expected to generate about $100 million in additional annual revenue, according to Wong.

    The tobacco tax was last raised in Singapore in 2018 when it increased by 10 percent.

  • Singapore: Smoking Prevalence Drops to 10 Percent

    Singapore: Smoking Prevalence Drops to 10 Percent

    Photo: Noppasinw

    The smoking prevalence in Singapore dropped to 10.1 percent in 2020 from 13.9 percent in 2010, reports The Straits Times, citing the city’s Ministry of Health (MOH).

    The MOH attributes the decline to its multi-year, multi-pronged approach to reduce and discourage the use of tobacco products among Singaporeans. The ministry says it works with multiple partners to deliver public education to increase awareness of the harms of tobacco use, smoking cessation programs, legislative measures, taxation and enforcement.

    Among other measures, the MOH raised the minimum legal age for smoking to 21, and banned emerging tobacco products, on the premise that these can be gateways to smoking.

    The MOH is also studying the examples of New Zealand, Malaysia and Denmark, which recently announced plans to implement tobacco-free generation policies. The department says it will examine how these countries develop and enforce the bans, to determine if this can be similarly applied in Singapore.

  • Singapore Cracks Down on Illegal Vape Products

    Singapore Cracks Down on Illegal Vape Products

    Photo: nuttawutnuy

    Singapore authorities destroyed an some 6,500 seized vape products with an estimated value of more than SGD1 million ($726,639) on May 31, reports Channel News Asia. Among the seized items incinerated on World No Tobacco Day were 6,500 e-vaporizers, 83,500 pods and 8,000 e-liquids. Together, they weighed more than a ton.

    In Singapore, it is an offence to sell, possess for sale, import or distribute e-vaporizers and related components. Violators risk fines of up to SGD10,000 and jail up to six months.   

    The penalty for possessing and using a vape is a fine of up to SGC2,000.

    Between 2017 and 2021, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) caught 383 illegal e-vaporizer sellers. HSA, which works with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to enforce against vaping, noted that some illegal importers have started to change tactics to avoid detection, by concealing products in lighting fixtures, for example.

    The agency says it has stepped up vigilance and enforcement actions.

    Last year, authorities destroyed almost 12,300 e-vaporizers, about 4,500 e-liquids and nearly 175,000 pods and components, with an estimated street value of almost SGD2 million.

     

  • Singapore Studying New Zealand’s Tobacco Plan

    Singapore Studying New Zealand’s Tobacco Plan

    Photo: Stockbym

    Singapore’s health authorities are debating whether to follow in the footsteps of New Zealand by gradually raising the smoking age until it covers the entire population, reports The Straits Times.

    On Jan. 8, New Zealand unveiled a plan to phase out smoking through price hikes, nicotine limits and increasing age restrictions, among other measures.

    On Jan. 11, Minister of State for Health Koh Poh Koon told Parliament he would look at how New Zealand’s experience could be applicable in Singapore.

    Singapore is unlikely to copy New Zealand’s embrace of vaping as an alternative to smoking, however. “If vaping becomes entrenched among the younger generation, it undoes all the progress we made on curbing smoking, and will take an enormous effort over many years to curb its use,” said Koh.

    While e-cigarettes are banned in the city state, they are readily available through e-commerce, according to Koh.

    Smoking prevalence in Singapore fell from 11.8 percent in 2017 to 10.1 percent in 2020. The city state introduced standardized packaging and enhanced graphic health warnings in 2020 and raised the minimum legal age for smoking from 19 years to 21 years in January 2021.

    As a result of such measures, smoking among adults aged 18 to 29 decreased from 9.8 percent in 2017 to 8.8 percent in 2020, according to Koh

    Smoking and second-hand smoke exposure accounted for about $180 million of healthcare costs in Singapore in 2019, he noted.