REEP in the news: South Africa’s illicit cigarette trade is booming

South Africa’s illicit cigarette trade constitutes more than half of the country’s current market – and the crisis poses a severe threat to both public health and government tax revenue.

This is according to a new research study by the REEP that was recently published in Tobacco Control. Titled: “South Africa’s illicit cigarette crisis: Evidence from the 2021 Global Adult Tobacco Survey", the study revealed that approximately 60% of cigarettes sold in South Africa in 2021 were illegal.

Mxolisi Zondi, the lead author of the study and a researcher at REEP, said the research identifies a substantial structural shift in the South African cigarette market. These findings, supported by other research conducted by REEP, demonstrate an enormous rise in the illicit cigarette trade over time. And this applies to before government instituted the cigarette sales ban at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Prior to the pandemic, the illicit market already comprised 30% of the total cigarette market. Subsequent to this, research shows that the ban took the illicit share to about 60% of the total market, with no significant decrease in the share ever since.

Read the news story in full here.