British American Tobacco New Zealand - New Zealand's tobacco industry and economic contribution

The New Zealand tobacco industry makes a significant contribution to the New Zealand economy in terms of government revenue, retail sales and employment.

Tobacco products make their largest financial contribution to the New Zealand economy in the form of excise taxation with the tobacco industry in New Zealand paying over NZ$2 billion in total taxes each year.

Tobacco is also an important source of revenue for about 5,000 New Zealand retailers, the vast majority of whom are small, independent retailers and dairies.

Market size

In 2019, 1.5 billion tailor made cigarettes (TMC) and 449 tonnes of roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco was sold to the trade by the three main tobacco companies in New Zealand.

There have been a number of contributors to the transformation of the tobacco market in New Zealand.