The supermarket supplier’s numbers are indisputable proof of how the illegal tobacco trade is running rife.
A few weeks ago, Metcash boss Doug Jones bought a pack of Marlboro-branded cigarettes from a tobacconist on Sydney’s north shore. He paid $13.
Those same cigarettes – assuming they were the same – cost closer to $50 at one of his IGA supermarkets next door.
Jones says he even asked the tobacconist for a tax invoice and, to his surprise, he was given one. It looked and felt like a legitimate transaction.
But those cigarettes were illegal. That $13 doesn’t even cover half of the excise duty ($1.40 per stick from March this year).
How’s he supposed to compete with illegal tobacco? You just can’t.
Source: https://www.afr.com/chanticleer/how-13-smokes-smacked-metcash-s-tobacco-sales-40pc-in-four-years-20250623-p5m9gi