Slump slows fall in cigarette sales

The fall in the amount of cigarettes being sold in the UK is slowing — but it does not necessarily mean people are returning to the weed.

Imperial Tobacco, the maker of best-selling Lambert & Butler and other cheap brands like JPS, said today that during the last 12 months, the rate of decline in the amount of duty-paid cigarettes it sold in the UK came in at 1%.

That is half the long-term annual rates of decline of 2%.

But Imperial, which has 45% of the UK market, says that the slowing rate of decline is a result of the recession because fewer cash-strapped smokers are going abroad and picking up their duty-free or cheaper cigarettes overseas.

For instance, fewer holidaymakers in Spain — another major market for Imperial's brands — has meant a 4% decline in sales there.