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Asia 11 study on illicit tobacco in 2012. Andy Logan Associate Director, Oxford Economics. 2 July 2014. Methods to estimate the scale of illicit cigarettes. Empty pack and cigarette butt collection and analysis. Household surveys/consumption estimates
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Asia 11 study on illicit tobacco in 2012 Andy Logan Associate Director, Oxford Economics 2 July2014
Methods to estimate the scale of illicit cigarettes Empty pack and cigarette butt collection and analysis Household surveys/consumption estimates compared with tax-paid products Seizures International trade data Smoker surveys
Empty pack surveys • Collect empty packs and analysing discarded butts. • Industry recognizes EPS as best practice as evidence of actual activity. • Run by external agency.
A few minor problems with EPS • Geographical coverage – e.g. is the coverage of urban vs rural locations appropriate? • Timing of survey – e.g. is there a possibility that the findings are not representative as they cover periods when tourist flows are greatest? • Brand coverage – e.g. does the survey exclude important brands given market composition? • Packs versus sticks – e.g. how does the survey treat differences in pack size and what implications does this have for estimates of non-domestic/illicit incidence? • Other tobacco products (OTPs) – e.g. to what extent do the surveys include the illicit trade in OTPs?
Direct surveys of smokers • Asking samples of smokers where they buy their tobacco products. Advantage • Provides a more direct route to assessing the size of the problem of illicit purchases at any point in time. Problems • Respondents under report the extent to which they smoke. • Under report the extent they consume illegal products. • May not even be aware that they are purchasing illicit tobacco.
Compare duty paid to estimates of consumption Duty Free Duty Paid Consumption Total Consumption Cross-boarder shopping Legitimate Consumption Legitimate Consumption Illegitimate Consumption
Compare duty paid to estimates of consumption 2 Estimates of prevalence (proportion of the population that smokes cigarettes) Estimates of cigarette consumption per smoker Total consumption Estimates of the adult population An uplift factor covering under-reporting Problems: There are some smokers who do not admit they smoke Some of the smokers who admit they smoke do not know how much, or choose to under-report the amount
Seizures by police or customs authorities The quantity of illegal cigarettes seized by the authorities Advantages • Official government statistics. • Useful to understand illicit trade routes. Problems with this measure • Can only represent a small proportion of the illicit trade. • If comparing over time, ignores effort and expenditure levels of the enforcement authorities. • Some element of luck.
Using trade data • Focuses on inwards flows of cigarettes into a country • Does the value of country A’s exports of tobacco to country B should equal B’s imports from A. Advantages • Trade data readily available. Problems • Different countries’ trade recording systems have different accuracies. • Exchange rate valuations.
Lessons on measurement techniques • All five methods have their strengths and weaknesses. • Empty pack surveys are probably the best method of calculating the size of the illicit market. • Useful to repeat the same method over time to understand whether the illicit trade is growing or decreasing and at what rate. • But should monitor a number of the methods to see if you get a consistent picture.
Asia 11 report • To establish credible estimates of consumption of illicit cigarettes and the impact this has on tobacco tax revenue for 11 markets in Asia. To do this it: • Validate illicit incidence levels, reviewing and refining estimates currently available through Empty Pack Surveys and other sources. • Estimate Illicit Consumption in terms of volume, including where possible a breakdown by country/market of origin and a breakdown between legal and Illicit Consumption. • Estimate annual government revenue losses from excise, VAT/GST, and earmarked taxes on cigarettes.
Conclusions from Asian 11 report • In 2012, 9% of cigarettes consumed in Asia-11 were illicit. • Illicit share was over 25% in five markets (Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, and Brunei) • Illicit volumes were highest in Pakistan, Vietnam, and Malaysia. • Domestic illicit cigarette volumes were highest in Pakistan and the Philippines. • Asia-11 government tax revenue losses from Illicit Consumption totalled US$ 3.4 billion in 2012.