Source: Dourados Agora - MS - 27/08/2009

A large layer of smokers in Dourados, would be opting for the purchase of packs of cigarettes from Paraguay from those manufactured in Brazil, due to an increase of around 30% that occurred last February. The measure has been heating up the smuggling of the product in Mato Grosso do Sul; alert the authorities.

According to the findings of the report, smokers seek to soften their pockets in the price and in return increase the profits of those who sell export-type products in bars, kiosks, street vendors and even at strategic points, such as improvised stalls on sidewalks.

In a brief survey, the report found that a Brazilian-made brand is currently the champion in sales, since it in all its versions, blue, red and silver, costs R $ 3 a unit, while the most expensive that comes out for R $ 5,50 a unit.
With the increase in national products, smokers started to opt for Paraguayans, which cost between R $ 1 to R $ 1,20 per unit.

"I have Brazilian cigarettes for having, the most that comes out here in my bowling is Fox. He and drips in doses is what I see most here, you can have faith in that", said the trader, who is also a smoker, guarantees that he too uses to sustain addiction.

A merchant from Jardim Florida confided in the report that before the increase of the national cigarette, he sold an average of five to ten packages of Paraguayan cigarettes a week, however, from February to the present day, the sale increased almost triple. "Today I have to buy an average of 25 to 30 packages a week," said the merchant, who owns a small bar in his neighborhood.

Another trader who works in Jardim Santo André also said that the sale of the Paraguayan product is today the alternative for a wage worker, and that it earns him much more profit than those of national manufacture.

According to the merchant who says he sells an average of 50 to 60 packages a fortnight, Brazilian cigarettes give him a profit of only 11 percent on the package while Paraguayan cigarettes exceed 40%. "There's no way. I have a client here who only smoked Carlton, Derby, in short, only Brazilian cigarettes and today he is one of the ones who most buys Paraguay because it is the cheapest, and look at the R $ 1,20 unit, ”said merchant.

Regardless of this tripling of cigarette sales from Paraguay, all traders, without exception, claim that if the Brazilian government raises cigarette prices again, it will surely be out of stock in the city, since smokers are no longer going after the quality of the products, they are going after the price, although they all know that tobacco is bad for their health, but the products coming from Paraguay are being much sought after by addicts.