The German Association for New Tobacco Products said the tax on vaping oil on vapes will increase to 0.26 euros per milliliter, but the number of applications for tax marks is still increasing. There are disposable vapes on the market with substandard nicotine content, and strict controls could lead to an increase in illegal inflows.
The German Federal Association for Cigarettes and New Tobacco Products (BVTE) expects tobacco sales in Germany to exceed the 64 billion sales in 2023 by 2024.
The 2024 data from the German statistics office has not yet been fully released, but from January to November, cigarette sales in Germany have reached 62 billion, an increase of 3.6 percent year-on-year. Jan Mucke, CEO of BVTE, said the increase in sales mostly reflected tax labeling ordered for production and had nothing to do with actual purchases or smoking rates by consumers.
German consumers are also buying across borders. Due to the increase in taxes, fewer and fewer German consumers choose to buy tobacco in the Czech Republic. Consumers who earlier tended to go to the Czech Republic either opted for less harmful alternatives, such as heated cigarettes or vapes.
In January 2025, the German vape tax will be increased to 0.26 euros per milliliter. From January to November, the total amount of taxes paid on e-liquids in Germany reached 1.156 million liters, and the number of taxes applied for e-liquids increased by 1.4 percent compared to the same period last year. Mook pointed out that cross-border shopping for traditional tobacco has not yet occurred in the vape market. There are disposable vapes with substandard nicotine content on the German market. If the introduction of peppermint or fruit vapes in Germany is strictly controlled, the illegal inflow could increase rapidly.
