From: City A.M.
by Guy Bentley
The consumption of non UK duty paid tobacco (NUKDP) is showing its first increase in recent years as cigarettes have faced a 150 per cent tax rise since the start of 2010.
The amount NUKPD of roll your own (RYO) tobacco has risen to a staggering 48 per cent, while the figure for stick cigarettes has climbed to 16 per cent for the year 2012/13, according to HMRC.
A significant proportion of the increase in NUKDP tobacco has been due to the rise of black market activity.
Research has also found a growing problem with counterfeit hand rolled tobacco (HRT). In 2012, counterfeit HRT made up 10 per cent of NUKPD packs collected by Japan Tobacco International (JTI) in the company’s pack swaps survey.
