Cheroots declining

Traditional cheroots are slowly but surely being crowded out by cigarettes and vapor products in Myanmar, according to a story in The Myanmar Times.

According to the 2016 Statistical Yearbook, there were 5 billion cheroots produced in Myanmar in 1991 and only 1 billion cigarettes. Today, traditional factories churn out only 2 billion cheroots a year, while cigarette factories produce around 9 billion.

In addition to competition from modern products, cheroots producers are struggling to attract workers, with many preferring to work in other industries, such as garment making.

The government imposes taxes ranging from MMK4 ($0.002) to MMK10 per cigarette, compared with only MMK1 per cheroot, but observers suspect a lenient tax policy alone will be insufficient to reverse the cheroot industry’s declining fortunes.