The Thailand Tobacco Monopoly (TTM) says it will introduce a new, cheaper brand of cigarettes to keep smokers from rolling their own or buying illegally imported untaxed ones due to higher prices from a recently imposed tax increase.
The plan announced on Saturday was immediately denounced by anti-smoking activists who have applauded the tax hike as a useful deterrent to smoking.
TTM managing director Daonoi Suttiniphapunt said the new cigarettes, which would be slightly smaller in diameter than standard brands, would cost about 40 baht a pack and would be introcduced on April 1.
Other brands now range in price from about 48 to 130 baht a pack, she said.
"We are concerned that smokers will choose other alternatives that will severely harm their bodies, such as low-quality hand-rolling tobacco,'' she said in a telephone interview. "They don't use good quality material, they use no filters and there is a lot more residue. ... They might put filters in, but in the process ... there is usually more residue such as tar and nicotine than in legal cigarettes.''
According to Ms Daonoi, there are 10.5 to 11 million smokers in Thailand.
"Those who have financial limitations, they will go to cheaper and low-quality products because they have no choice,'' she said. "Quitting cigarettes is not easy.''
Dr Ulysses Dorotheo, a programme director for the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance, scoffed at the reasoning for producing cheaper cigarettes.
"All tobacco products are harmful to health regardless of their form or source, whether roll-your-own or manufactured cigarettes, whether legal or illicit,'' he said in an email. "It is a farce to believe that tobacco companies are interested in protecting the health of smokers by promoting the access and use of cheap legal cigarettes.
"Producing cheap cigarettes that are affordable to the poor and the young is a strategy common to all tobacco manufacturers, whether private or state-owned, to keep tobacco products affordable in order to keep poor people addicted, entice young people to start smoking, and ultimately to maintain industry profits."
His organisation previously praised Thai authorities for increasing the price of domestically produced cigarettes this month by 5 to 10 baht, saying it was a good example of trying to improve public health through tax policy.
Ms Daonoi said that since the recent tax hike of about 3%, tobacco sales had fallen and the market size had shrunk by more than 2%.
Tobacco tax increases between 1991 and 2013 are said to have helped reduce the prevalence of smoking from 32% to 19.9%, said Sophapan Ratanachena, local programme manager for the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance.
“However, while this is a positive development, Thailand still faces a problem as smokers may switch to cheaper products and brands," she said of the latest tax increase.