China to hike cigarette consumption tax

China announced on Friday that it will raise the consumption tax of cigarette at the wholesale level, starting from May 10.

The tax rate imposed on cigarette wholesalers on the basis of taxable prices will be increased to 11 percent from 5 percent, and they will also pay an additional 0.005 yuan (less than 1 U.S. cent) for each cigarette they sell, according to a statement jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation.

As the world's largest tobacco maker and consumer, China has more than 300 million smokers, almost the size of the U.S. population, and another 740 million people are exposed to second-hand smoke each year.

According to official data, some 1.36 million Chinese people die from smoking-related diseases annually.

To curb the number of smokers, China released a draft regulation on tobacco control in late 2014 that will ban all form of tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion of tobacco products. Endi