The Dutch are buying even more cigarettes abroad as the price for a 20-pack in the Netherlands hovers around €11, with €7.80 attributed to taxes, according to recent research.

In the fourth quarter of the year, 39% of cigarette packs found in litter originated from outside the Netherlands, and around 5% were counterfeit, according to research by WSPM for the tobacco industry.

This marks a rise from earlier in the year when 25% of empty packets were foreign. Researchers analysed 7,000 empty packs collected from litter and bins.

“Smokers aren’t quitting; instead, they’re sourcing cigarettes from legal foreign markets or smugglers,” Jan Hein Sträter, director of the tobacco industry lobby group VSK, told Nu.nl.

Foreign cigarette packs were most commonly found in border areas such as Zuid-Limburg, Noord-Brabant, and the Achterhoek.

Despite the shift to other sources, the treasury is still earning more via tobacco taxes, according to national statistics agency CBS. In 2023, the tax on tobacco generated €3.1 billion, compared with €2.6 billion in 2019.

There are, however, indications that 2024 income will be €500 million below government targets, RTL said earlier. And the VSK claimed in November total lost income to be some €2.3 billion.

Pro-countryside party BBB called for a cut in tobacco taxes because of the impact on government revenues.