As much as 62 percent of smoked tobacco comes from abroad, according to the latest report from Kantar. This periodically investigates the use on behalf of Dutch tobacco manufacturers, who are seeing more and more turnover flowing away. ‘Tobacco tourism’ is now twice as high as it was two years ago.
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“This costs our government and retailers billions of euros per year,” says Jan Hein Sträter of the tobacco industry (VSK). “For the first time we see that more than half of all tobacco comes from abroad. Understandable, because the price differences with Germany and Luxembourg are enormous.”
In April last year, excise duties in the Netherlands rose sharply. That makes a trip across the border lucrative. A pack of cigarettes in Germany costs on average 4 euros less than in the Netherlands, and a pack of rolling tobacco is even about 15 euros cheaper. The price differences with countries such as Luxembourg or Poland are even greater.
According to Sträter, the higher excise duty in the Netherlands has ‘dramatically’ changed consumer behavior. “They now structurally buy their tobacco across the border or through the illegal circuit. Higher excise duties have not led to fewer smokers, which was the intention, but to more smuggling and black trading. This concerns 310 million packs of cigarettes and 37 million packs of rolling tobacco per year.”
Dutch tobacco tourism is increasing, in Germany there is now even a special depot right across the border: ‘Such a difference is not normal, is it?’
According to the National Smuggling Monitor of the tobacco industry, the Dutch government will miss out on more than 2.6 billion euros in excise duties this year. Sträter: “The government has lost its grip on the tobacco market. Foreign sellers and criminals benefit, while the Dutch government treasury and the middle class pay the bill.” The tobacco industry has traditionally advocated a European excise policy.
Despite the excise tax increases, the number of smokers in our country remains relatively stable, according to the VSK.