Accredited official statistics

Tobacco statistics commentary July 2026

Updated 28 August 2026

1. Tobacco Duty headlines

Tobacco Duty receipts for the April 2025 to March 2026 financial year show that:

• total Tobacco Duty receipts were £7,567 million, £359 million (4.5%) lower than the previous financial year

• total cigarette receipts were £5,689 million, £225 million (3.8%) lower than the previous financial year

• total cigar receipts were £158 million, £1 million (0.6%) higher than the previous financial year

• total Hand-Rolling Tobacco (HRT) receipts were £1,641 million, £130 million (7.3%) lower than the previous financial year

• total other tobacco receipts were £80 million, £5 million (6.0%) lower than the previous financial year

Provisional Tobacco Duty receipts for April 2026 to July 2026 show that:

• total Tobacco Duty receipts were £2,919 million, £82 million (2.9%) higher than the same period in the previous year

2. About this release

This publication provides Accredited Official Statistics (formerly known as National Statistics) on Tobacco Duty, which covers duty on cigarettes, cigars, HRT, and other types of tobacco such as pipe and chewing tobacco. More information on Accredited Official Statistics (formerly known as National Statistics).

The statistics in this release are based on data from recent and historic trader returns up to July 2026. Detailed statistics on clearances and receipts are provided in the accompanying tables.

In practice, Tobacco Duty is paid under duty deferment arrangements, whereby liability accrued during one calendar month is paid in duty to HMRC the following month. Therefore, the monthly receipts statistics covered in this publication relate to tobacco products cleared in the previous month.

3. Tobacco Duty

Tobacco Duty is a tax payable on tobacco products manufactured in the UK or imported into the UK.

Manufacturers must make a return to HMRC on any day when tobacco products are released onto the UK market unless the manufacturer has an agreement with HMRC to defer duty, in which case a return can be made on a monthly basis.

Changes to Tobacco Products Duty are announced in the fiscal announcement each year. Clearances are usually high in months immediately preceding the fiscal announcement due to tobacco manufacturers forestalling against duty increases.

Further information can be accessed at Tobacco Products Duty and a statistical background is available in the accompanying Tobacco statistics background and references document. Current Tobacco Duty rates can be accessed at Tobacco Products Duty rates.

4. Monthly total tobacco receipts

Monthly total tobacco cash receipts are calculated by summing the receipts from a variety of different cigarette types and other tobacco products. This, along with changes to duty rates across tobacco products and forestalling prior to government budgets or the tobacco manufacturers’ own price rises, mean that monthly total receipts have been volatile over the last few years.

Figure 1: Total monthly tobacco cash receipts for the current and previous 2 financial years

For the full dataset that accompanies Figure 1 go to Tobacco statistics tables (July 2026)

Figure 1 shows total provisional tobacco receipts:

• from April 2026 to July 2026 are £2,919 million, £82 million (2.9%) higher than April 2025 to July 2025

• in July 2026 are £983 million, £211 million (27%) higher than July 2025 and the highest since December 2022

5. Tobacco receipts by product type

Figure 2: Total tobacco receipts for the last 10 financial years split by cigarettes, hand-rolling tobacco, cigars and other

For the full dataset that accompanies Figure 2 go to Tobacco statistics tables (July 2026)

Figure 2 shows that:

• total tobacco receipts peaked in the 2021 to 2022 financial year

• cigarette receipts have fallen from 85% of total tobacco receipts in the 2016 to 2017 financial year to 75% of total tobacco receipts in the 2025 to 2026 financial year

• HRT receipts have risen from 14% of total tobacco receipts in the 2016 to 2017 financial year to 22% of total tobacco receipts in the 2025 to 2026 financial year

• cigar receipts and other tobacco products continue to make up a small percentage of total tobacco receipts, at 2% and 1% respectively in the 2025 to 2026 financial year

Figure 3: Cigarette and Hand-Rolling Tobacco yearly tobacco receipts for the previous 10 financial years

For the full dataset that accompanies Figure 3 go to Tobacco statistics tables (July 2026)

Figure 3 shows that:

• cigarette receipts have decreased by 25% in the last 10 years, from £7,585 million in the 2016 to 2017 financial year to £5,689 million in the 2025 to 2026 financial year

• hand-rolling tobacco receipts increased by 94% from £1,231 million in the 2016 to 2017 financial year to £2,390 million in the 2021 to 2022 financial year

• since the 2021 to 2022 financial year, hand-rolling tobacco receipts have decreased by 31% to £1,641 million in the 2025 to 2026 financial year

Figure 4: Cigar and other products yearly tobacco receipts for the previous 10 financial years

For the full dataset that accompanies Figure 4 go to Tobacco statistics tables (July 2026)

Figure 4 shows that:

• cigar receipts increased by 134% from £64 million in the 2017 to 2018 financial year to £149 million in the 2022 to 2023 financial year

• cigar receipts increased by 5.7% from £149 million in the 2022 to 2023 financial year to £158 million in the 2025 to 2026 financial year

• receipts from other tobacco products increased by 231% from £26 million in the 2019 to 2020 financial year to £88 million in the 2022 to 2023 financial year

• following a dip to £49 million in the 2023 to 2024 financial year, receipts from other tobacco products increased and were £80 million in the 2025 to 2026 financial year

6. Contacts

The Tobacco Bulletin is produced by the Indirect Tax Receipts Monitoring team as part of the Excise duties, VAT, and other indirect tax statistics collection.

For statistical enquiries, contact:

revenuemonitoring@hmrc.gov.uk

For media enquiries, see HMRC press office. Telephone: 03000 550 493