Retail group Spar says that the ban on cigarettes during South Africa’s hard COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 has had a long-term impact on sales, reports BusinessTech.

According to Spar’s interim results data, alcohol sales were also greatly impacted by the national bans imposed over the last year. However, these sales largely recovered when restrictions were relaxed. In comparison, cigarettes sales have remained restrained – even after the ban was lifted. “Tops at Spar continued to be negatively impacted by the reduced retail hours and lost trading days, effectively losing 72 trading days, approximately 40 per cent of available trading days during this period,” Spar said.
Tobacco sales were prohibited between 25 March and 17 August 2020 as part of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the time of the ban, conservative estimates are that between ZAR 4.5 billion and 6 billion (USD 324 million – 432 million) was lost in excise taxes on tobacco products, while 300,000 jobs were at stake, the report said.