JOHANNESBURG - New research suggests South Africa’s illicit tobacco trade remains deeply entrenched.
A study commissioned by British American Tobacco (BAT) and conducted by Ipsos found that three out of every four cigarettes surveyed are being sold below the minimum price needed to cover mandatory taxes.
The research shows a slight decline of two percentage points compared with 2025.
However, the findings suggest that illicit cigarette sales remain widespread.
"So anything that is selling below that couldn't have paid taxes because those taxes, as the word denotes, are mandatory taxes that all players should be paying to the revenue authority," BAT's Johnny Moloto said.