Malaysia: Government to Help Restructure Tobacco Industry

Source from:  The Star Online 09/11/2013

The Government has pledged to continue helping small-time tobacco farmers seek an alternative source of income.

This follows the decision by cigarette manufacturers to stop purchasing local tobacco leaves since April 1, said Deputy Plantation Industries and Commodities Mi­­nister Datuk Noriah Kasnon.

She said the tobacco industry in Malaysia was shifting due to changes in international trade and an increase in awareness on public health.

"The need to restructure the tobacco industry is in line with the country's commitment to liberalise the market under the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) and the control of tobacco use under the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

"I've been made to understand that the LKTN (National Kenaf and Tobacco Board) is in the process of implementing several programmes to help rural tobacco farmers who are less competitive to switch to other economies, such as kenaf planting," Noriah said at the launch of the 2013 Tobacco Seminar here yesterday.

She added that the export value of tobacco and its products had increased by 48.7% to RM1.57bil in 2012 compared with RM1.06bil in 2011.

The export value for the first half of this year was RM579.04mil, which was a decrease of 18.7% compared with the same period in 2012 (RM711.92mil).

"The tobacco industry contributed RM3.52bil to the country's tax income last year, compared with RM3.42bil in 2011, which was an increase of 2.8%.

"The amount was contributed through tax collection such as excise duty, import duty, sales tax and corporate taxes," Noriah said. Enditem