From: Latinvex
Latin America: Illegal Tobacco Hurts Trade
Impacts of the rising illegal tobacco trade in Latin America.
BY ANGELICA SALADO AND ANDRÉS MUSALEM
The latest Euromonitor global research for the tobacco industry has unveiled a subtle but important milestone: the value of the global cigarettes category as a proportion of total tobacco sales fell slightly below 90 percent in 2016 for the first time. This milestone highlights the growing importance of the factors affecting cigarettes retail sales worldwide.
In Latin America, one of these factors is the rise of illegal tobacco. However, the rise of illegal trade is also tied to government initiatives seeking to raise taxes, an easy and correct policy option in light of issues concerning public health, as well as the continued erosion of consumer’s purchasing power due to current unfavorable macroeconomic scenarios in the region.
