A recent study conducted by the UK firm KPMG has found that the consumption of illegal tobacco in New Zealand has risen to 10.2 per cent of the market, Voxy reported.

The study found that the percentage of illegal tobacco on the New Zealand tobacco market has increased from 9.2 per cent in 2017 to 10.2 per cent in 2018. This tobacco would have been worth USD 143 million in excise, had it been consumed legally. The Imperial Tobacco Australasia General Manager, Wayne Merrett, was quoted as saying, “The increase in illegal tobacco consumption shows that even New Zealand’s remoteness is no obstacle to smugglers who exploit any opportunity to smuggle tobacco into the country.”
According to KPMG’s report, China and South Korea were the main sources of illegal cigarettes, as cigarettes there are five times cheaper than in New Zealand. In every city surveyed, it was found that the quantity of non-domestic cigarettes had also increased, although not all of these were illicit. In Hamilton, the number of non-domestic packs of cigarettes had doubled and in Wellington, they had tripled, Voxy reported.
The company who conducted the study, KPMG, have recently conducted surveys on the size and impact of illegal cigarette smuggling in countries around the world. As a result of KPMG’s recent study in Australia, the Australian government have increased penalties for both cigarette smugglers and for the illegal growth of tobacco plants.