Deputy Najla Lahiani has sent written questions to the Ministry of Trade and Export Development regarding disruptions in tobacco supply and the emergence of resale practices at illegal prices.
The deputy indicated that the tobacco market in Tunisia, despite its regulation by a regulatory and legal framework, experiences recurrent supply disruptions at the level of distribution, wholesale and retail channels, which affects the availability of certain brands in points of sale and the stability of prices.
In her correspondence, she added that disparities in distribution and occasional shortages of certain products have been observed in several regions. This situation has favored the emergence of resale practices at prices higher than the legal rates on the market, undermining the transparency of the system and affecting consumers.
Among the field examples reported in certain regions, the deputy cited, non-exhaustively, the brands 20 Mars International, Golden Crystal, Safir and Kawaful Blue. She indicated that these products were the subject of resales at prices exceeding official tariffs, such as Crystal, sold at around 2,300 millimes against an official price of 2,000 millimes, of Kawaful, offered between 2,700 and 3,000 millimes, or even more, as well as Safir, sold between 4,000 and 4,300 millimes.
The deputy estimated that this situation reveals the existence of a dysfunction in distribution, an unbalanced allocation of quotas, or even market pressure that has favored speculation.
Najla Lahiani has thus sent a series of questions to the Ministry of Trade and Export Development concerning the tobacco market supply system. She wondered about the measures taken to guarantee the regularity of supply in the different regions, as well as the existence of periodic revision of the weekly quota system and the effectiveness of their distribution.
She also questioned the ministry about the measures likely to guarantee transparency and fairness of regional distribution circuits, as well as the mechanisms in place to combat resale practices at illegal prices, both at wholesale and retail levels.
Her questions also addressed the possibility of revising the distribution system to limit shortages and speculation, as well as the coercive measures envisaged in cases of proven overpricing of legal prices.
