Price Hikes Fuel Smuggling
Recent tobacco price hikes in the Netherlands have prompted smokers to source their tobacco abroad, reports Turkiye Today.
On April 1, the Dutch government increased a special consumption tax, causing the price of a 20-stick pack of cigarettes to rise by €1 ($1.11) to more than €11. By comparison, a similar pack sells for €8.93 in Germany and €6.50 in Belgium. In Luxembourg, which is among the cheapest countries for smokers in western Europe, a pack of 20 cigarettes sells for €5.07.
Many Dutch smokers have also started sourcing their cigarettes in Turkiye, where tobacco products are frequently offered for less than half of the price in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands permits travelers to import a maximum of 800 cigarettes from EU countries. For cigarettes obtained outside of non-EU countries such as Turkiye, the duty-free limit is 200 cigarettes.
Earlier this month, Dutch lawmakers expressed concern about dwindling tax receipts as legal tobacco consumption plummets in the wake of the higher tobacco duties.
