January 1, Cigarette sales up for the first time in 20 years

For the first time in 20 years, cigarette sales increased, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s annual Cigarette Report.

The report said that manufacturers sold 203.7 billion cigarettes in 2020, up from 202.9 billion in 2019 — an increase of 0.4 percent.

According to the FTC, cigarette companies increased advertising and promotion to $7.84 billion in 2020 from $7.624 billion in 2019, concentrating the bulk of their spending on “price discounts paid to cigarette retailers in order to reduce the price of cigarettes to customers.”

“In 2020, total nicotine consumption in the US was up 3.4%,” said Don Burke, senior vice president at Management Science Associates. “So clearly, the pandemic had an impact on the overall total nicotine delivery category.”

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Cigarette sales went up last year for the first time in 20 years