Mortal Blow for Hand_Rolled Cigarettes
The government's decision to increase the price of cigarettes will hasten the death of small-scale cigarette manufacturers. In fact the contribution of hand-rolled cigarettes is far less than that of other cigarettes. So why the squeeze?
December 4, 2001
THE line of tobacco hampers is all but deserted throughout the Kebayak cigarette factory in Nganjuk, East Java. Almost everywhere you can hear the sound of swallowing chirping high up in the ceilings of the factory that was set up in the 1930s. According to Soekarto, 56, who has already worked for 35 years at Kebayak, the current gloomy situation has in fact continued since the crisis began in 1997. During the last year, conditions at the factory...