The price hike is in line with last year's changes to the excise duties act, which already raised the excise from EUR 77 to EUR 80 per 1,000 cigarettes in April. Now the duty increased to EUR 83 per 1,000 cigarettes.

New price hikes are in the pipeline as the government tweaked the excise duties act at the beginning of the month, raising excise duty on tobacco to EUR 95 per 1,000 cigarettes as of 1 July 2012.

The hike is expected to bring in an extra EUR 18m in budget revenue per year, a part of which will be earmarked for the Health Ministry's anti-smoking campaign.

According to Tobacna Ljubljana, excise duties now account for 77% of the retail price of the most popular cigarette brand.