SA’s 7.5m smokers puff their way through around 3m packs of 20 cigarettes a day. Almost one in four of those packs (24%) is illicit, double British American Tobacco’s estimate of the global average."Illegal cigarettes cost government R4bn in lost excise duty and Vat in 2015 and R25bn over the past five years," says Francois van der Merwe, CE of the Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa (Tisa).Some inroads have been made in the war on illicit cigarettes. At 24% the market share of illicit product is down from a peak of 30% seen in 2012."The decline is the result of years of co-operation between the tobacco industry and Sars [the SA Revenue Service] on smuggling," says Van der Merwe. "Sars has tightened up border controls and made it far more difficult for smugglers."But criminals are ever resourceful and have swung their attention from smuggling, primarily from Zimbabwe, to production in SA. In 2011, a quarter of the illicit cigarette market was locally made; now, 80% is local.It crea...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.