Malaysia Stops Duty-Free Tobacco

Starting this January, there are no more duty-free tobacco sales in Malaysia. At least not in the duty-free zones and on the duty-free islands. Malaysia has several duty free islands and duty-free zones. 

Illegal trade

Malaysia is the world’s number one when it comes to the illegal cigarette trade. Close to a third (64.5%) of the total cigarettes sold in the country today are illegal cigarettes. That means roughly 12 billion sticks of contraband cigarettes sold in a year. To put a stop to that, duty-free sales in the many duty-free zones and islands will stop. And of course, cigars and pipe-tobacco fall under the same legislation.

The largest of the duty-free islands is the island of Langkawi. The Trinidad Cigar Company, a tobacco importer and distributor, has a cigar lounge in Langkawi. The Trinidad Cigar Divan. The cigars available at the lounge will no longer be duty-free. But it looks like airports are still able to sell duty-free tobacco and the duty-free allowance for tobacco remains. The press-releases by the Malaysian governments do not mention airports and other points of entry to the country. There is also no mention of a change of the duty-free allowance.

Cigars and pipe tobacco

Malaysia is one of the largest southeast Asian markets for cigars and pipe-tobacco. And even though the new legislation is not aimed at these products, they will affect them as they are lumped together with cigarettes.