Alternative tobacco and nicotine products in Poland

Polish heated tobacco market

Poland is a central European country with a population of over 37.9m and one of the EU countries with higher smoking rates. Daily smokers account for 28% of the adult population. The average number of cigarettes smoked daily per person increased by +0.2 since 2014. In 2017, Polish smokers smoked 15.9 cigarettes per day, 1.8 more than the European average. In this context, in Q2 2017 Philip Morris International (PMI) launched Iqos in Poland and British American Tobacco (BAT) followed in November 2018 with its heated tobacco product, Glo.

Since then, the heated tobacco category has become a successful smoking alternative. Even though other European markets are growing at a faster pace, Poland is considered to be one of the markets with high potential for heated tobacco success in Europe.

As heated tobacco products are becoming more popular in the country, the government amended the taxation. Heated tobacco products fall under the novel tobacco products category in Poland.

The new excise tax on these products, effective as of 1st July 2020, consists of two elements: PLN155.79/kg (€34.35) and 32.05% of the weighted average retail selling price of smoking tobacco. For the purpose of determining the excise tax rate on heated tobacco products, the weighted average retail selling price – established by the Ministry of Finance – will be used, which in 2020 is PLN466.77 (€105).