Mongolia Illicit Cigarette Data 2017-2018

The Mongolian Parliament increased the import duty on tobacco products by 30% on 1 May 2017 and increased the tobacco excise tax by 10% on 1 January 2018. The University of Cape Town based project Research on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP) undertook a study to measure changes in tobacco tax evasion after the tax increase by calculating the extent of illicit cigarette sales before and after these tax increases. The method used was to collect discarded cigarette packages before and after the tax increase in selected Mongolian cities and analyse the information provided on these packages. A cigarette pack was identified as illicit if it had no excise tax stamp. Discarded cigarette packs were collected in the capital city (Ulaanbaatar) and in two provinces with international borders, Dornod (bordering with China) and Bayan Ulgii (bordering with Russia). Packs were also inspected for pictorial health warnings to assess if manufacturers were complying with the pictorial health warning laws. Collection for Round 1 happened in April 2017, round 2 in September 2017 and round 3 in April 2018. 7494 packs were collected before the tax increases and 5852 packs were collected after the tax increases. Cigarettes without tax stamp were shown to have been produced in Mongolia, but also in Korea, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.