No smoke without IRE
Tobacco retailers fear tough new regulations will impinge on people's freedoms.
- Published: 16 Nov 2012 at 00.00
- Newspaper section: Business
Forty-eight -year-old Wanchai Kusomboompol sells cigarettes at his mom-and-pop shop in Bangkok's Sam Yan area mostly to casual workers who buy fewer than 10 cigarettes per day on average.
About 480,000 retailers fear new tobacco regulations will cause them a burden. ‘Sales will be definitely lower but there will be an increase in illegal cigarettes,’ says Mr Wanchai.
"Some people, especially those who earn less money, do not buy cigarettes in packs. Some smoke only three per day, and therefore it just makes more sense for them to buy separate ones," he said.
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