Oman: Sale of Tobacco and Related Products Comes down

Source from:  Oman Daily Observer  07/14/2014

With the holy month of Ramadhan reaching mid-way, shops in the city are saying their tobacco sale has dipped over the last two weeks owing to a cut down on the puffs by the smokers.

During Ramadhan, smoking is prohibited during the day time as it can nullify one's fast. Hence, smokers push their lights to dusk and beyond.

A number of shops on the Ruwi High Street as well as in the malls experience a slump in sales by anything between 40 to 45 per cent while some are doing brisk business after sunset as some smoke away the accumulated number of sticks after breaking their fast.

The fall is mainly attributed to the people's moderation and self-restraint from smoking during the day as smoking in the public during the day is a punishable offence in the country.

"Sales has reduced by 40 to 45 per cent in the last two weeks," says Mohammed Hafiz Bhuyyan, a Bangladeshi shopkeeper on the Ruwi High Street. "With the dip in sales we are only able to make daily sales of some RO 300 to 400 instead of the previous month's average of RO 800."

However, the difference is felt on sale of cigarettes alone and not on high-end cigars which are stored and consumed mainly by Europeans and the like. "Most of the smokers who don't take this month as an opportunity to kick this habit compensate their day's intake with the additional sticks at night, at less number though," he added.

Among the shops on the Ruwi High Street business is as usual post iftar as those who have restricted their urge to light up would pile swarm these small vendors.

"Although my business is less during the day, it doubles after iftar everyday as the smokers rush for a puff after breaking fast," another tobacco vendor said.

However, the shisha centres are finding it more convenient to sell more units to their customers as their demand is shooting high. "Shisha business happens mostly at night and our customers frequent us at night only," a shisha vendor who sells the pipes in the sprawling CBD area said, adding "hence we don't find any business loss these days". Enditem