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Sweden's snus industry: 10,000 jobs, 7 billion SEK in exports — and an EU fight ahead

Sweden's snus and nicotine pouch industry employs around 10,000 people and exports nearly 7 billion SEK a year, according to a new industry report. But it warns upcoming EU rules and national pouch bans could push production abroad.

PouchDaily Desk·

Sweden built the world's leading snus and nicotine pouch industry. A new report from the country's food employers' association puts a number on what that's worth: roughly 10,000 jobs and nearly 7 billion SEK in annual exports.

The report — Snus ger tusentals jobb i Sverige ("Snus creates thousands of jobs in Sweden"), published 14 August 2026 by Livsmedelsföretagen, the Swedish food and nicotine industry employers' association — is the first comprehensive attempt to quantify the sector's economic footprint. Its headline finding is a warning: upcoming EU regulation could push that industry out of Sweden.

What the numbers say

The report breaks the industry's footprint down:

  • ~3,300 people work directly in Swedish snus and nicotine pouch manufacturing.
  • ~10,000 jobs exist across the full value chain — research, product development, packaging, logistics, distribution, and trade.
  • 6.9 billion SEK (roughly €600 million) in export value per year.
  • Sweden has the lowest share of daily smokers in the EU and has already met the EU's smoke-free society target — an outcome the report links to the country's long tradition of smoke-free nicotine products.

Production is spread across multiple sites in Sweden, not concentrated in a single region. The report estimates that if one in four European smokers switched to snus, Swedish exports could increase tenfold.

Why the EU fight matters for pouches

The report's central concern is regulatory. EU rules for nicotine pouches (white snus) are not harmonised across the bloc. Several countries have moved unilaterally:

  • Belgium, the Netherlands, and France have introduced national bans on nicotine pouches — which Livsmedelsföretagen says is "contrary to the EU's free movement of goods," while cigarettes remain legal in those same markets.

The industry body argues this inversion — banning the lower-risk product while leaving combustible tobacco on shelves — undermines both public health and the Swedish industrial base that supplies the category.

The timing is sensitive. The European Commission's Tobacco Products Directive (TPD3) consultation recently closed with over 25,000 responses, and flavour rules for nicotine pouches are on the table. Sweden has already pushed back on an EU-level nicotine pouch tax proposal. This report adds an economic argument to that regulatory fight: if the rules become too restrictive, the report warns, production and jobs could move abroad.

What the industry is asking for

Patrik Strömer, industry policy expert at Livsmedelsföretagen and secretary general of the Snustillverkarföreningen (Swedish Snus Manufacturers' Association), framed the ask clearly:

"Sweden has developed world-leading expertise in snus and nicotine products. This is not just a product category — it's thousands of jobs, substantial export revenue, and knowledge built up over generations. As the EU now reviews the rules, it's vital that decisions are based on science and proportionate risk assessments."

The report calls on the next Swedish government to "clearly stand up for snus" and for EU decisions on smoke-free products to be grounded in science and proportionate risk assessment — while still protecting young people.

Why it matters

The economic argument reframes the regulatory debate. So far, the nicotine pouch fight in Europe has been fought on health grounds — youth uptake, nicotine limits, flavour bans. This report shifts part of the conversation to jobs, exports, and industrial policy, and argues that Sweden's model — low smoking rates built on broad access to smoke-free nicotine — is worth defending.

For pouch brands and retailers, the stakes are concrete. A tenfold export increase is the upside if European demand opens up. Production leaving Sweden is the downside if it closes down. Either way, the EU's next move on the TPD3 will help decide which one happens.

We've covered the regulatory side of this fight — Sweden's objection to the EU nicotine pouch tax, the 800+ registered products that exceed the proposed 12mg/g cap, and the TPD3 consultation's flavour-rule debate. This report is the economic case under all of it.

SOURCES:

Compare nicotine pouch prices across retailers at PouchFinder.