Johannesburg - Nearly a decade after a law curbing smoking in public places was introduced in South Africa, fewer workers are absent due to smoking-related illnesses.
However, the industry has shed some jobs.
Over this period, the industry also faced competition from illegal cigarettes, which burnt 20% of the market.
Says Peter Ucko, director of the National Council Against Smoking: "It is difficult to quantify the savings the economy enjoyed since the Tobacco Products Amendment Act was introduced.
"Recent research shows that before the ban was implemented, 2.5 million workdays were lost annually due to smoking-related illnesses. The number of people who suffered asthma attacks decreased after the ban. But it'll take about 30 years for us to see the real impact of the ban."
These figures suggest that although the number of smokers has decreased, the illegal trade has risen from the ashes.
British American Tobacco (BAT) spokesperson Anthea Abraham says annual cigarette sales shrank from 38 billion in the 1990s to 24 billion last year. This number excludes cigarettes sold on the black market.
Black market growing
"It is very difficult to say to what extent consumption has decreased and has shifted to the illegal market," she says. BAT leads the industry with an estimated market share of 65%.
Chief executive of the Tobacco Institute of South Africa, Francois van der Merwe, says taxes on tobacco products increased by 400% in the past 10 years. For example, the excise duty for a pack of 20 cigarettes was R2.40 in 1998 and climbed to R6.16 a pack this year.
"Over the same period, the illicit trade in cigarettes has grown from almost non-existent to about 20% of the total market," he says.
Van der Merwe says the tobacco industry employs 15 000 farm workers, 600 in processing and 3 000 in manufacturing.
He says: "The drop in volumes has led to about 30 000 job losses in factories and on farms in the past decade."
"The illegal trade is not affected by legislation or high taxes because they simply ignore the strict requirements set out in the legislation and do not pay taxes," he says.
Van der Merwe says 10 million illegal cigarettes are sold in South Africa every day. This represents a R1bn loss for legitimate operators.
More countries looking at bans
Ucko is more positive about the effect of the ban. He says employees have become more productive and that spending on smoking-related medical expenses has dropped.
He says a recent study showed that 95% of lung cancer patients were smokers.
"More than half died within four months of diagnosis and 93% died in two years. Only 7% lived more than two years after diagnosis."
Meanwhile, other countries are looking at imposing smoking bans.
England this week joined a list of 35 countries that ban smoking in public places like restaurants.
People breaking the law in England will be slapped with a £50 (about R700) spot fine. In South Africa, a restaurant owner flouting the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act is fined a minimum of R20 000.
On Friday, delegates wrapped up an international tobacco control conference in Thailand with a commitment to stamp out smoking in all public areas and workplaces.
New treaty
Officials from more than 140 countries had gathered in Bangkok for a week-long meeting organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to discuss ways of boosting global efforts to stop smoking.
They unanimously agreed on a set of guidelines aimed at helping governments considering a smoking ban.
Said Douglas Bettcher, head of the WHO Tobacco-Free Initiative: "We know that second-hand smoke is deadly. It causes a range of diseases in children and cancers, heart disease in adults and 200 000 deaths in the workplace. The world now moves forward with the globalisation of 100% smoke-free environments."
WHO representatives also said that they had started talks on a new treaty to fight the illicit trade in tobacco.
Said Haik Nikogosian, head of the WHO tobacco control secretariat: "This transnational phenomenon negatively affects national security and economics and public and personal health in many countries.
"The treaty enables countries to combat the complex threats tobacco poses to human health, like the illicit trade of tobacco products, through international law."
The Framework Convention Alliance - an international alliance of hundreds of tobacco control organisations - has estimated that the illicit cigarette trade accounted for more than 10% of the total global trade in cigarettes in 2006.
*Additional reporting by Sapa-AFP