Officials in Malaysia announced that 55% of the cigarettes being purchased are illegal, a decline for the fourth consecutive year since 2020’s peak of 63.8%. JT International Bhd (JTI Malaysia) managing director Juliana Mohd Yahaya said law enforcement efforts in curbing illegal tobacco smuggling and a ban on trans-shipments of tobacco products are helping the cause.
“We expect the incidence of illicit cigarettes to continue to decline this year,” she said at a news conference discussing the nation’s annual Illicit Cigarettes Study for 2024. “What has also contributed to the reduction in illicit cigarette incidence is the ongoing tobacco tax moratorium by the Ministry of Finance. But we know that at some point, [the moratorium] will end, so if the government were to impose an excise increase on tobacco products, we hope that it would be a moderate and predictable one.”
Another finding from the study was that an ever-increasing number, 13.8%, of illicit cigarettes bore fake tax stamps, leading companies like JTI Malaysia to advocate for the government’s transition from paper-based tax stamps to digital tax codes, aligning with the government’s digitalization drive.
Malaysia’s nicotine makeup consists of consumers using 23.8% legal cigarettes, 29.9% illicit cigarettes, 25.3% e-cigarettes/vapes/HTPs, and 20.4% of users who use both traditional and alternative products.
