Boom times at the Régie

by Paul Cochrane October 16, 2014

written by Paul Cochrane October 16, 2014

|Greg Demarque|

This article is part of an Executive special report on industry. Read more stories as they’re published here, or pick up October’s issue at newsstands in Lebanon. The cedar tree may be the national symbol, but when it comes to smoking the national cigarette brand Cedars, it is the Syrians that have the strongest affinity. In fact, a correlation can be drawn between the number of Syrians in the country and sales of Cedars: more Syrians in Lebanon equals more Cedars sold. Back in 2005, in the months after the Syrian military withdrew along with thousands of Syrian non-military personnel, sales of Cedars plunged by 50 percent. Government-owned Régie Libanaise des Tabacs et Tombacs (RLT) attributed the drop directly to the withdrawal, with soldiers and low paid workers the main consumers of what was then — and still is now at LBP 750 ($0.5) per pack — the cheapest smokes on

Paul Cochrane

Paul Cochrane is an independent journalist covering the Middle East and Africa. He lived in Bilad Al Sham (Cyprus, Palestine and Lebanon) for 24 years, mainly in Beirut. He is also the co-director of a documentary on the political-economy of water in Lebanon, “We Made Every Living Thing from Water”

2 comments

Tony Naaman October 30, 2014 - 10:57 AM

Another Executive article that doesn’t bother questioning claims made by tobacco manufacturers and reads like veiled propaganda for the tobacco industry:
1) The $400 million the state coffers lose every year to treat tobacco-related illnesses among Lebanese is not part of your profit and loss equation, is it?
2) What about the conflict of interest arising from the fact that the Regie is under the Ministry of Finance, whose signature is needed to increase tobacco taxes? Or the fact that the Regie and the Minister of Finance are extremely close political allies?
3) The claim about the rise of smuggling is very ludicrous when you know that Lebanon has by far the cheapest cigarette prices across the entire region. Low prices are simply a way to drag the poorest populations into nicotine addiction.

Congratulations, Executive, for being the only news outlet worldwide that still praises the tobacco industry for its contributions to killing people.

Sara H. October 30, 2014 - 11:17 AM

So…how much was Executive Magazine paid for this article?

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Boom times at the Régie

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