MANILA – The tobacco industry, which has been in a slump due to higher excise taxes and stricter regulations, is taking a shot at the export market.
Data from the National Tobacco Administration (NTA), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, showed tobacco production has declined by 30 percent to 48 million kilograms in 2017 from 68 million kgs in 2013.
Republic Act No. 10351, or the New Excise Tax on Tobacco and Alcohol Products was enacted in 2013. The law gradually increased the levies on cigarettes to P30 per pack in 2017.
The NTA has projected a lower output of 42 million kgs this year, but noted that tobacco exports reverse the downtrend.
“I think this is the year that it will start to increase. Actually, what we see as an opportunity there is the exports,” NTA Regulations Department officer-in-charge Rohbert Ambros told reporters on the sidelines of a forum in Makati City.
“The particular Burley type planted in the Philippines is the best type in the world … These are imported from the Philippines so that is the market we are seeing,” Ambros said.
Domestic consumption will remain stagnant due to higher excise taxes and the national smoking ban in public places.
“But since we are the only country left as possible sources of Burley type, our local producers will expand,” Ambros said. (GMA News)
