Tobacco Control Adversely Boosts Imports

Jakarta (Antara) - The controls on cigarettes/tobacco imposed by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) will have an adverse effect and increase the import of tobacco, a director general said. "If tobacco is controlled, imports will increase," the Director General for Plantation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Gamal Nasir, said here on Saturday. He said that in 2007, Indonesia's tobacco exports reached 46,834 tons, worth 124.4 million US dollars. The figure then increased to 57,408 tons, worth 195.63 million dollars, but in 2012, it dropped to 37,110 tons valued at 159.56 million dollars. In the meantime, he said, tobacco imports in 2007 stood at 69,742 tons and were worth 267.08 million dollars but dropped to 65,685 tons in 2010 though rose in value to 290.17 million dollars. In the following two years, imports increased to 106,570 tons in 2011 and 137,425 tons in 2012, worth 507.18 million and 658.9 million dollars, respectively. "Control over tobacco will trigger imports of bigger volumes. We can export tobacco so that plantation need not be banned," he said. He said that national tobacco plantations have increased over the past five years. In 2009, the acreage under tobacco plantations in the country reached 209,316.56 hectares with production reaching 187,521.06 tons. It increased to 269,435.48 hectares in 2012 with a production of 263,677.90 tons. He said that tobacco plantations covered 269,382.59 hectares in 2013 with production rising to 268,423.50 tons. (*)