Vietnamese authorities are moving to crack down on cigarette smuggling,expecting a surge in the illegal activity ahead of the Lunar New Year(Tet) festival.
Truong QuangHoai Nam , director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's MarketWatch Department, said smuggling methods had become increasinglysophisticated with smugglers setting up vast trans-national networks.Statistics showed that up to 20 percent of cigarettes are illegallysmuggled, with Vietnam being a significant market for the goods, hesaid.
Figures from the VietnamTobacco Association also revealed that there were more than 100cigarette brands smuggled into Vietnam, 90 percent of whichcomprised Jet and Hero brand goods. Smuggled cigarettes were mostlyimported from China, Laos, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The activities have caused a 20-25percent dent to State budget revenues each year, of which the tobaccoindustry is obliged to pay to the Government. Smuggling activitieswere also responsible for lost earnings of around 17,000 tonnes oftobacco and around 550,000 jobs.
Pham Kien Nghiep, the association's general secretary, said domesticcigarette producers and trading companies had been seriously affected bysmuggling activities in terms of market share, turnover and profit.
Illegal cigarette smugglers are saidto earn profits 30 times higher than when products are imported legally,Nghiep said. He added that localities could do more to preventsmuggling, while people in border areas had been unaware of theiractivities in transporting smuggled cigarettes.
"It was the reason that only 1 percent of smuggled cigaretteseized and destroyed though market watch forces, police, customs officeshave been active in preventing the activities," he explained.
He suggested the Government increaseincentives for authorities to 15 cents for each confiscated cigarette,urging that Vietnam needed to cooperate with Cambodia and Laosto prevent cigarette smuggling across common borders.
Nguyen Viet The, head of the Market Watch Department in centralQuang Tri province, said smugglers often hired poor and unemployedpeople to carry cigarettes into the domestic market. He said smugglersdivided their goods into smaller amounts to avoid being caught byauthorities.
In the past fiveyears, the province seized only 300,000 packs of smuggled cigaretteswith a total value of 4 billion VND (190,470 USD). The said localauthorities should closely co-operate with market management boards andother authorities to tackle the issue.-VNA
Truong QuangHoai Nam , director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's MarketWatch Department, said smuggling methods had become increasinglysophisticated with smugglers setting up vast trans-national networks.Statistics showed that up to 20 percent of cigarettes are illegallysmuggled, with Vietnam being a significant market for the goods, hesaid.
Figures from the VietnamTobacco Association also revealed that there were more than 100cigarette brands smuggled into Vietnam, 90 percent of whichcomprised Jet and Hero brand goods. Smuggled cigarettes were mostlyimported from China, Laos, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The activities have caused a 20-25percent dent to State budget revenues each year, of which the tobaccoindustry is obliged to pay to the Government. Smuggling activitieswere also responsible for lost earnings of around 17,000 tonnes oftobacco and around 550,000 jobs.
Pham Kien Nghiep, the association's general secretary, said domesticcigarette producers and trading companies had been seriously affected bysmuggling activities in terms of market share, turnover and profit.
Illegal cigarette smugglers are saidto earn profits 30 times higher than when products are imported legally,Nghiep said. He added that localities could do more to preventsmuggling, while people in border areas had been unaware of theiractivities in transporting smuggled cigarettes.
"It was the reason that only 1 percent of smuggled cigaretteseized and destroyed though market watch forces, police, customs officeshave been active in preventing the activities," he explained.
He suggested the Government increaseincentives for authorities to 15 cents for each confiscated cigarette,urging that Vietnam needed to cooperate with Cambodia and Laosto prevent cigarette smuggling across common borders.
Nguyen Viet The, head of the Market Watch Department in centralQuang Tri province, said smugglers often hired poor and unemployedpeople to carry cigarettes into the domestic market. He said smugglersdivided their goods into smaller amounts to avoid being caught byauthorities.
In the past fiveyears, the province seized only 300,000 packs of smuggled cigaretteswith a total value of 4 billion VND (190,470 USD). The said localauthorities should closely co-operate with market management boards andother authorities to tackle the issue.-VNA
