In 2021, cigarettes sales rose in both retail volume and current value terms. The roll-out of the vaccination programme and the consequent easing of COVID-19 related restrictions in the course of the year benefited cigarettes sales as people returned to workplaces and partook in social events again, leading to more social smoking and hence boosting cigarettes sales.
One of the main factors boosting growth in legal cigarettes sales in Malaysia in 2021 was the decline in illicit trade. This decline was due to movement restrictions that were in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the first half of the year.
British American Tobacco remained the dominant player in cigarettes in 2021. It maintained a similar volume share compared with the previous year, although saw switches between its brands as there was an increase in demand for affordable cigarettes.
In January 2022, the Malaysian government announced the introduction of a law which will outlaw the sale of tobacco and other smoking products to anyone born after 2005. This is set to exacerbate the long-standing trend of declining smoking prevalence in the country, particularly amongst men, who also account for most of the smokers in the country.
Another factor which is expected to hamper the volume growth of cigarettes in the forecast period is the competition faced from vapour products and heated tobacco products. They are considered by consumers to be better alternatives to cigarettes as they are modified risk tobacco products, and are also widely available in convenience stores and forecourt retailers.
The Malaysian government is increasing its efforts to curb illicit cigarettes, taking actions such as not issuing any new import licenses and heavily punishing smugglers. It remains to be seen whether such measures will be able to bring down the volume of illicit cigarettes.
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Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Cigarettes industry in Malaysia with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.
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Cigarettes
RETAIL SALES OF DUTY PAID CIGARETTES The definition of cigarettes for the purposes of this study is duty-paid, machine manufactured white-stick products. This does not exclude brands of cigarettes that do not use white paper but it is designed to exclude the volume of non-machine manufactured products such as bidis/beedis (India) and papirosy (Russia), and other smoking products made with tobacco but that either do not resemble cigarettes as recognised in the US or Europe, or those that are not machine manufactured. The exclusion of these products is intended to give a more accurate picture of the "true" market for cigarettes and cigars which has been distorted in official statistics and published reports because of the inclusion of hybrid products. NB Please note that due to its central importance and integration into the industry mainstream, Indonesia’s market data does include hand-rolled kreteks DUTY-FREE sales are excluded from retail sales, as are herbal cigarettes. ILLICIT TRADE CIGARETTES Not included in retail sales, but split out separately in volume terms only. Defined as non-duty paid cigarettes (includes smuggled & counterfeit/fake products combined). Legitimate cross-border sales are considered duty-paid. Sales arising from a foreign national purchasing cheaper cigarettes in bulk in a neighbouring country for personal use and exported back are attributed to the country where the purchase is made (e.g. bulk cigarette sales by British nationals in France are attributed to France).
See All of Our DefinitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Cigarettes research and analysis database.
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