Jakarta - Indodata Research Center revealed that the circulation of illegal cigarettes throughout 2024 consisted of plain cigarettes or cigarettes without excise stamps, counterfeit cigarettes, misused (saltuk) used cigarettes and incorrect personalization resulting in potential state losses estimated at IDR 97.81 trillion.
According to the Executive Director of the Indodata Research Center, Danis Saputra Wahidin, the largest number of illegal cigarettes in circulation are plain or without excise stamps at 95.44 percent, followed by counterfeit cigarettes at 1.95 percent, saltuk cigarettes at 1.13 percent, used cigarettes at 0.51 percent, and salson cigarettes at 0.37 percent.
Data from 2021 to 2024, he continued in Jakarta, Saturday, showed that the consumption of illegal cigarettes experienced a fairly significant upward trend.
"The results of the study show that the circulation of illegal cigarettes has increased from 28 percent to 30 percent and we found the figure at 46 percent in 2024. The rampant illegal cigarettes, especially the dominant plain cigarettes, are estimated to cause state losses of IDR 97.81 trillion," said Danis in his statement.
According to him, the trend of smokers is shifting or switching from consuming legal to illegal cigarettes. Smokers no longer smoke expensive ones but change to consuming cheap cigarettes because it turns out that increasing the value or price of excise is not effective in reducing the number of smokers in Indonesia.
The increase in the number of illegal cigarettes, he continued, was caused by changes in cigarette consumption from class I, class II and class III to cheaper illegal cigarettes that follow market tastes in the form of plain, fake, saltuk, used and salson.
"The amount of consumption of types of tobacco products is estimated to not be much different from the results of the Susenas and the UGM Yogyakarta survey, where consumption of machine-made kretek cigarettes (SKM) is consumed more by both legal and illegal cigarette consumers, followed by machine-made white cigarettes (SPM) and hand-rolled kretek cigarettes (SKT)," he said.
Danis stated that President Prabowo Subianto is expected to provide direction to the ranks of related Ministries/Institutions to formulate cigarette policies that need to be supported by objective, comprehensive, and inclusive studies, with the support of valid, complete, and transparent data, as an important basis for the formulation and implementation of appropriate and accurate policies, so that policy performance can be more effective and efficient.