Vietnam to auction smuggled cigarettes for export

HANOI, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will auction quality smuggled foreign cigarettes for export on a trial basis starting on June 18 according to a prime ministerial decision, its Ministry of Industry and Trade said on Thursday.

Under the decision, exporting the auctioned cigarettes via land border gates or to Vietnam's neighboring countries is prohibited, and revenues from the auctions will be used for anti-cigarette smuggling.

Nearly 1 billion smuggled cigarette packets are consumed in Vietnam each year, causing losses of some 450 million U.S. dollars to state budget, according to the Vietnam Tobacco Association.

The country has 15.6 million smokers aged over 15, with 85.3 percent smoking daily, who annually spend some 31 trillion Vietnamese dong (nearly 1.4 billion U.S. dollars) on their habit, showed a recent survey by the Vietnamese Health Ministry. Enditem