Snus in the Nordic Countries

In 2008, the snus use in Scandinavia was approximately 240 million cans.

Sweden

Central Stockholm with Riddarholmen (Gamla Stan) on the right and the city hall on the left.

Snus has been consumed since the mid 1800s and was the predominant tobacco product in Sweden in the beginning of the 20th century. Cigarette volumes began to increase in the 1940s and snus volumes dropped. In the 1970s sales of snus started to increase, while cigarette volumes levelled out and began to decrease in the 1990s.

Currently, Swedish men have the lowest prevalence of smoking in the EU, but they also have a high rate of snus use, 12% and 19%, respectively). The rate of smoking among Swedish women is more on par with that in other EU member states and usage of snus is of low prevalence, 16% and 4%, respectively). Smokeless tobacco products permitted for use in other EU member states, chewing tobacco and nasal snuff, have very low prevalence.

Source: The National Institute of Public Health, FHI, 2007.

Sweden 16-84 yr, Iceland 15-89 yr, Finland 15-64 yr, Norway 16-74 yr and Denmark 13 yr and older.

Sources: Central statistical bureaus in the Nordic region. The Swedish Institute of Public Health, survey spring 2006.

In 2007, the number of snus users (between 16-84 years) totaled approximately 1.2 million, of whom women accounted for one fifth. The number of daily snus users was 831,000. Of the men, 19 percent used snus on a daily basis (685,000) and 7 percent occasionally (253,000).

Source: Swedish Institute of Public Health, FHI, and Statistics Sweden, SCB.

Norway

Norwegian flag, view of Oslo and the Oslo fjord, Norway.

The vast majority of the snus volume is sold in Sweden. In Norway 2006, the use of snus increased with 18% compared with previous year. 19 000.000 cans were sold with an additional 5 500.000 cans sold in Tax-free channels.

A study of 2006 shows that there are 309 000 snus users in Norway today. 47% of the daily snus users were previously daily smokers. Out of the daily snus users, 1.5% was previously daily snus users. This study indicates that the Swedish Experience is becoming an exportable model for replacing cigarette smoking and reducing the negative health effects of smoking.

Source: MMI 2006 Norwegian Study, Commissioned by Swedish Match and presented 8 March 2007

Denmark

Nyhavn in Copenhague.

The use of Swedish snus in Denmark is not as widely spread as in Norway. There are some domestic producers which predominately produce a form of loose snus with local regional roots. Portioned packed snus is not allowed in Denmark.

Åland

Finnish archipelago landscape in Bomarsund Åland.

Åland is a Finnish island situated between Sweden and the Finnish mainland with extensive political autonomy status. The economical foundation for Åland is shipping and the Baltic Sea trade that takes place on the Åland flagged ferries. Swedish snus stands for a substantial part of the total profit that is generated by sales of goods onboard and a majority of the current 100 000 daily snus users in Finland access snus via the ferries operating between Sweden and Finland

In 2005, Finland was reprimanded by the European Commission due to the fact that the EU ban on snus was not implemented accordingly on Åland. In October 2007, the European Commission referred Finland to the European Court of Justice for a second time for failing to comply with an earlier court ruling on Swedish snus sales and a fine of about 2 million euros and a daily penalty of about 20 000 euros was imposed on Finland. Hence a new Tobacco Directive on Åland came into effect by January 2008 that banned Swedish snus

As a result, several Åland flagged ferries changed to Swedish flag to in order to ensure continuous sales of snus. More ferries will eventually follow.