Cape Town - A second study done at the University of Cape Town has found that the price of bootleg cigarettes has soared further still during eased lockdown conditions and that the ongoing ban has proven to be a bonanza for the black market, with negligible public health benefit.
Professor Corné van Walbeek, the director of the Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products at UCT, said: “The intended lockdown benefit of people quitting smoking was mostly realised in lockdown level 5. The percentage of respondents who quit subsequently has decreased to little more than a trickle.”
The study was conducted over two weeks in early June, with 23,000 respondents interviewed online. It was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization and the South African Medical Research Council, among others.
The researchers said that for every month that the ban, which came into effect on March 27, continued, the government would lose at least R1 billion in revenues. "Whereas previously multinationals dominated the market, their share of sales has decreased to less than 20% among the people who were sampled. Most of our respondents have been forced to switch brands, a large proportion of which are produced by local manufacturers."