An estimated 5-7 million packs of cigarettes are being illegally imported to Vietnam across the border with Cambodia every month, according to a report the Vietnam Tobacco Corporation (Vinataba) has prepared for the government.

The number of illegal imported cigarettes in 2006 was some 100 million packs more than the 2005 level, reports Vinataba. The illegal imports of Jet and Hero, for example, saw an increase of 20 per cent in the last year, and the imports of the two brand names alone account for 20 per cent of the domestic market share.
Tobacco smuggling has been increasing recently as a result of the adjustment of the luxury tax rate on cigarettes.
Vinataba says that smuggled cigarettes have severely hurt local production, with tobacco factories in the west of the southern region suffering the most.
In 2006, tobacco factories produced 4,022 million packs of cigarettes, down by 11.4 per cent over the same period the previous year. Many enterprises have reported losses and reductions in production and business; several of them have said they may have to stop production. (pi)