Mandatory plain packaging and a rise in tobacco tax have not resulted in a flood of illicit tobacco onto the Sydney market, a trend study shows.
Instead, it appears smokers are switching from premium brands to cheaper value brands, the empty pack survey spanning 17 local government areas across Sydney reveals.
The study involving respiratory physician Professor Matthew Peters from Concord Hospital in Sydney, NSW collected 1604 discarded empty cigarette packs from public areas such as beaches, parks, shopping centres and railways stations across the different sociodemographic areas of Sydney.
For the next three years the researchers collected a similar number of cigarette packs at each collection site at the same time of year.
After adjusting for pack size, 13.1%, 11.5%, 10.2% and 10.9% of packs collected did not comply with plain packaging requirements in years one, two, three and four respectively.
Across the four surveys premium cigarettes fell from 30.6% to 14.6% with value segment cigarettes increasing from 33.3% to 51.1%.