ISLAMABAD: The Track and Trace System (TTS) implemented by the FBR was failing, with a rising incidence of fake stamps being affixed to counterfeit packs of prominent cigarette brands.

Senior officials of the tobacco industry on Monday decried a lack of enforcement measures in the sector, expressing concerns about the sustainability of this business as Pakistani markets were flooded with smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes.

Talking to the media, Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC) officials stated that the recent data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed a decline of around 40 per cent in Large Scale Manufac­turing (LSM) for the tobacco industry from July to November 2023.

Qasim Tariq, Senior Business Development Manager at PTC, said that cigarette consumption has remained stagnant. It is visible by visiting any market across the country that cheap, smuggled, and counterfeit local brands are available, he added.

“Around 850 million counterfeit cigarette sticks are currently being sold all across Pakistan including major cities. This figure stands equivalent to 42.5m packs featuring fake stamps, resulting in substantial loss of approximately Rs5.7 billion to Pakistan,” he said.

Mr Tariq highlighted that the rising counterfeit issue raises serious questions about the efficacy of the much-lauded TTS, which is yet to be implemented across local cigarette manufacturers in Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The PTC officials referred to the FBR report submitted to the parliamentary committee in 2019, stating that illicit cigarette trade accounted for more than 36.2pc in the country.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2024