The government is expecting a slower annual growth in exports of tobacco and its products from average 18 per cent in the past three years to an average of 15 per cent growth in the next five years.

Industry ministry director for beverage and tobacco industries Warsono said the government expected a slower rate of growth as the main cigarette export destinations had introduced stricter controls on smoking. "It will be good enough if we can make cigarette exports grow by 15 per cent because it is becoming harder to export cigarettes nowadays," he said. "For example, the United States has banned [clove] flavoured cigarettes [to be sold in its domestic market], with the issuance of a new bill, while the European Union (EU) has further limited smoking areas available to the public."
Indonesia is among the world’s five largest cigarette makers, and the world’s largest kretek cigarette producer. Indonesian cigarettes make up 99 per cent of the US market for the kretek product. Indonesia also exports tobacco and tobacco products to the EU (tobacco and cigars) and former Soviet Union countries, as well as other developing countries in Africa and Asia.
According to the ministry’s latest data, in 2008 unprocessed tobacco exports were worth USD 151.02 million (EUR 111 million), while cigarette and cigar exports stood at USD 357.8 million (EUR 262 million). The ministry has forecast tobacco exports will reach USD 401.7 million (EUR 294 million) and cigarette and cigar exports will reach USD 1.06 billion (EUR 0.78 billion) by 2015, the data shows.
Warsono said he had yet to receive data on exports of tobacco and its products in 2009. Meanwhile, the government is limiting the production of domestic cigarettes — only for sale in the domestic market — to promote public health over dangers of smoking. The government’s limit on domestic cigarette production is set at 240 billion sticks by the end of this year — a decline from 245 billion sticks produced last year. The limit will eventually reach 260 billion sticks by 2015. (sra)