Deliveries of tobacco products to retailers rose 0.3 per cent in the first year of plain packaging, reversing four years of declines, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Citing tobacco company comments, the newspaper said an increase of loose tobacco shipments and decline in cigarettes could mean smokers are trading down to cheaper products and can therefore afford to buy more of them. Shipments of tobacco products in 2013 rose to 21.074 billion stick equivalents, according to Philip Morris International data cited by the Morning Herald.