Evading the price: do French smokers go abroad to buy cheaper tobacco?

Abstract Background In France, selling tobacco is strictly supervised and can only be done by official “tobacconists” making the price lever all the more efficient in preventing smoking. However, tobacco prices are rather heterogeneous in Europe and France is surrounded by countries with lower tobacco prices. The aim of our study was to investigate tobacco cross-border purchases by French smokers. Methods Data come from the Santé publique France health Barometer, a national representative phone survey. In the 2014, 2017 and 2018 editions, respectively 4,721, 1,854 and 2,594 smokers where asked about their habits regarding purchasing tobacco. Results In 2018, among adults, 77.8% of cigarette smokers (including RYO cigarettes) made their last purchase from an official French tobacconist and 16.4% made it in a neighboring country. Rates in bordering regions are drastically higher. These figures are quite similar to the ones observed in 2014 while tobacconist purchases had increased in 2017 and abroad purchases had decreased. In 2018, among adults, 44.3% of cigarette smokers stated they had bought tobacco abroad at least once during the past 12 months. Conclusions Our study suggests that the frequency of cross border tobacco purchases by French smokers decreased between 2014 and 2017 while tobacco prices were not modified in France but increased between 2017 and 2018 as French tobacco prices went up. Our study also emphasises the fact that cross border purchases were a lot more common in bordering regions. Key messages Part of French smokers avoid price increases by purchasing tobacco abroad. This public health policy measure could be more efficient if tobacco prices were aligned in Europe.