Customs And Excise Ensures Cigarette Retail Selling Prices Rise By 2025

Director General of Customs and Excise Askolani. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

The Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) of the Ministry of Finance ensures that the Retail Selling Price (HJE) of conventional cigarettes and e-cigarettes will increase from 2025.

This step is the government's strategy in managing cigarette excise policies without increasing Tobacco Product Excise (CHT) rates.

Director General of Customs and Excise Askolani stated that this regulation will be stated in the Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) which is scheduled to be issued this week.

"We have prepared the PMK together with the BKF (Varcial Policy Agency). It has been harmonized at the Ministry of Law and God willing, this week it can be implemented. And two PMKs, one PMK regarding conventional cigarette HJE and the other PMK regarding HJE e-cigarettes, which of course we will use for the policy basis in 2025," said Askolani at the press conference of the KiTa State Budget Edition December 2024 in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Thursday 12 December

Askolani explained that next year's HJE adjustment is based on a number of strategic considerations, including mitigation of the decline in trading or downtrading that will occur in 2024.

In addition to considering industrial development, labor conditions, and the intensity of excise stamp supervision, this policy is also implemented as part of efforts to control health which is the government's big step in managing tobacco products regulations.

Furthermore, as a follow-up to this policy, Customs and Excise has completed the excise band design for 2025. The excise band will be printed by Perum Peruri.

"We have also prepared the contract with Peruri, and Peruri has also prepared infrastructure and raw materials for printing the 2025 excise stamp so that we hope that in the near future, the excise band can be started and prepared by Peruri to be fulfilled this December," explained Askolani.

The Customs and Excise predicts that the demand for excise stamps in December 2024 will increase significantly, but the peak is projected to be in January 2025.

"We convey that in January, the estimated excise band that will be ordered by cigarette companies is around 15-17 million excise stamps, which of course we and Peruri can do and fulfill in accordance with the provisions," explained Askolani.