China to Raise Tobacco Prices

Up by five percent

China will raise the average purchase price of flue-cured tobacco by 5 percent, the government said on Thursday, as the world's largest tobacco consumer cracks down on the habit that health activists say is partly sustained by cheap cigarettes.

The price comes after health authorities said they would work to ban smoking in public places nationwide this year - a law that has long been in the works.

The price increase was imposed by the National Development and Reform Commission (NRDC), China's top planning authority, and China National Tobacco Corporation, the state-owned cigarette monopoly.