The country’s tobacco farmers are projected to lose nearly P1 billion this year as smuggled cigarettes continue to flood the market, illustrating the losses from unchecked illicit trade that has long hurt local growers and the wider tobacco industry.
In a statement, the Philippine Tobacco Growers Association (PTGA) said local farmers stand to lose about P978 million in income in 2025 due to illegal cigarettes that continue to dominate markets across several regions.
‘This is the money we use to survive. Without it, we struggle to send our kids to school, buy fertilizer or even put food on the table,’ PTGA president Saturnino Distor said.
He added that the issue is not just economic but deeply personal for tobacco growers.
‘This is not just about breaking the law. This is about breaking the hearts of hardworking farmers,’ he said.
Based on PTGA estimates, around 11.8 billion sticks of smuggled cigarettes will be sold in the country this year.
Industry figures show these illegal products are being sold for as little as P2 per stick, compared to about P7 for legitimate brands, making them far cheaper and easier to buy, particularly for minors.
The association said this is equivalent to about 9.4 million kilos of tobacco that could have come from local farms.
With an average farmgate price of P104.09 per kilo, the PTGA said this translates to roughly P17,000 in lost income for each of the group’s 59,000 members.
The group warned that cigarette smuggling not only threatens farmers’ livelihoods but also affects the country’s broader economy as the government loses around P40 billion annually from illegal sales.
PTGA said the losses could have funded programs under the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and the Department of Health (DOH) to support Filipinos’ medical needs.
Distor also lamented the lack of arrests or prosecutions under the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Law passed last year to curb large-scale smuggling of agricultural products.