Eastern Europe

In the year 2023, tissue and hygiene products sales in Lithuania experienced a gradual return to normalcy as the effects of the pandemic began to subside. However, despite this transition, the product area faced persistent challenges stemming from…

Tissue and hygiene in Macedonia was challenged by high inflation for the second consecutive year in 2023. Although, the rate of inflation is lower compared to 2022, it remained well above normal levels in Macedonia. High inflation has stifled volume…

In 2023, the tissue and hygiene landscape in Poland recorded positive, double-digit retail value growth, driven by rising price points. As such, while value sales were high, retail volume was challenged in areas viewed as unessential, including…

Throughout 2023, players in retail tissue in Romania contended with persistent challenges stemming from inflation and escalating prices of raw materials and energy. These factors compelled some players to adjust their pricing strategies, passing on a…

Rising inflation has dampened volume sales of tissue and hygiene in Serbia. Higher logistical and raw material costs linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have also resulted in price increases. With the high costs of living…

Tissue and hygiene in Slovakia recorded only slight volume growth in 2023, as strong inflationary pressures limited consumer expenditure and prevented an increase in spend year-on-year. Robust price increases in tissue and hygiene ultimately led to…

Tissue and hygiene in Slovenia experienced significant growth in 2023 driven by heightened health and hygiene awareness among consumers. With ongoing concerns about cleanliness and sanitation, individuals are prioritising products such as wipes,…

Tissue and hygiene was affected by strong price increases, leading to significant value sales growth of all product types. Consumers reacted by reducing the frequency of their purchases leading to stagnation or a decline in volume sales of several…

Tissue and hygiene saw decline in both volume and value terms in Ukraine in 2023. This performance was connected with the mass migration of people from the country due to ongoing military actions. The substantial population shift has resulted in a…

In 2023, Bosnia and Herzegovina witnessed significant changes in its tobacco landscape, marked by declining smoking prevalence and notable economic factors influencing consumer behaviour. A growing health consciousness among the population has led to…

Tobacco in Bulgaria witnessed robust growth in 2023, with retail volume growth driven largely by the growing appeal of alternative products in the form of e-vapour products and heated tobacco. Cigarette smoking remains very popular due to its low…

In 2023, there were no sharp changes in excise tax or, therefore, product prices in tobacco in Croatia. More stable prices helped to avoid declines in retail volume sales at the end of the review period. However, the growth in retail volume sales of…

Within tobacco in Estonia, cigarettes continued to struggle to maintain demand in 2023. Smoking prevalence in terms of cigarettes saw a further small decrease at the end of the review period. This was underpinned by heightened health concerns as well…

It was a positive picture for tobacco in Georgia in 2023, with healthy volume growth across all tobacco products. This was partly due to an increase in population, as there were increased numbers of immigrants from Russia, as a result of the war in…

Tobacco in Hungary saw a decline in volume terms overall in 2023, attributed to several and various factors. Despite price hikes that remained below the annual inflation rate, the market's largest segments struggled to stem the fall. Volume sales of…

In 2023, the major trends in tobacco in Latvia remained consistent with previous years. Sales of regular cigarettes continued to decline, while vaping and heated tobacco products gained popularity. However, an alarming trend was the resurgence of…

Retail sales of cigarettes in Lithuania are steadily declining as consumers increasingly shift towards alternatives such as vaping and heated tobacco. This trend raises questions about whether the overall popularity of smoking is genuinely decreasing…

Total current value sales growth for tobacco in North Macedonia in 2023 was up markedly on that recorded in 2022. The improvement was primarily attributable to unit price hikes resulting from tax increases and inflationary pressures fuelled by the…

Sales of cigarettes in Poland declined slightly in 2023 in retail volume terms. In 2022 the influx of refugees from Ukraine strongly revived sales of cigarettes in the country, but the impact of this weakened in 2023. A similar picture was seen in…

Cigarettes remains the basic tobacco product for the majority of smokers in Romania and thus it was also the key growth driver for tobacco as a whole in 2023. Widespread distribution across all retail channels in Romania supports the positive…