Tobacco remained in a decline in Canada in 2024, due to the ongoing trends towards smoking cessation. Social attitudes towards cigarettes, in particular, are negative, and the government is pushing for new warnings about the dangers of smoking. For example, Canada was the first country to require health warnings directly on individual cigarettes. In April 2024, a 31 July 2024 deadline was set for tobacco companies to ensure all their King Size cigarettes depict these new warnings, which are six different, rotated, bilingual warnings. The warnings include: poison in every puff; cigarettes damage your organs; cigarettes cause cancer; tobacco smoke harms children; cigarettes cause impotence; and cigarettes cause leukaemia. Regular size cigarettes had until 30 April 2025 to make the change. Packs are also required to have larger warnings and standardised designs, making it difficult for different brands to differentiate themselves via their packaging.
Overall smoking prevalence is on a downwards trajectory, with notably fewer smokers expected over the coming years. As such, with fewer smokers and tighter rules on packaging, marketing, and product formats, companies are placing more focus on e-vapour products, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco. According to Reuters, British American Tobacco Plc (BAT) (GBO) (Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd in Canada) said it expects to see stronger growth in these areas over the coming years. The player offers the leading Vuse brand in e-vapour products. However, while Philip Morris International Inc (PMI) (GBO) (Rothmans Benson & Hedges Inc in Canada) continues to push Iqos VEEV and Iqos ILUMA, heated tobacco currently has limited uptake in the country.
Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd (British American Tobacco Plc (GBO)) is the leading company in tobacco in Canada, with Rothmans Benson & Hedges Inc (Philip Morris International Inc (PMI) (GBO)) in second place, and with Pacific Smoke International Inc being the only other company holding an overall double-digit company share.
The retail landscape for tobacco in Canada is subject to changes, mostly in response to policy pressures and tighter rules. Health Canada has moved forward with packaging regulation updates under the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA) new proposals in 2024 aim to make sure warnings are visible on all pack surfaces including cartons. This affects how brands can present their products on shelves, especially as even the outside carton now needs to feature a warning.
The Canadian authorities will continue a clamp down on tobacco over the forecast period, in line with smoking cessation goals (<5% by 2035). This means ongoing rules and regulations, bigger warning labels, more taxes, and potential restrictions on innovation. Thus far there have been moves to print warnings on individual cigarettes (a first), standardise packaging, and even print warnings on exterior packaging of cartons. Also, in March 2025, the government introduced new Tobacco Charges Regulations. Starting 1 May 2025, tobacco companies now have to start paying for the cost of running tobacco control programmes. The first reporting deadline is April 2026, with payments due November 2026.
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Tobacco
Passport Tobacco covers the seven major tobacco categories: Cigarettes, Cigars & Cigarillos, Smoking tobacco (made up of Pipe tobacco and RYO tobacco), Smokeless Tobacco (snuff and chewing tobacco), E-Vapour Products (closed and open); Heated Tobacco; and Tobacco Free Oral Nicotine. Smoking paraphernalia such as pipes, rolling papers, lighters or matches, etc., are not included, nor are nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products, which are part of Euromonitor's Passport Consumer Healthcare database.
See all of our definitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Tobacco research and analysis database.
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