Global cigarette retail volume by country 2018

Selling almost two and a half trillion cigarettes (or sticks) in 2018, China had by far the largest cigarette retail market in the world. With just over 300 billion sticks sold, Indonesia ranked second that year.

Smokers by region

Given the large cigarette retail market in countries, such as China, Indonesia and Japan, it comes to no surprise that the Western Pacific Region has the highest number of tobacco smokers worldwide. In 2020, close to 400 million people within the region smoked tobacco. By 2025, the number of smokers in the Western Pacific Region, as well as globally, is projected to decrease slightly.

Kretek in Indonesia

Apart from standard cigarettes, Indonesia consumes and produces what are known as kreteks, or clove cigarettes. This type of cigarette traditionally contains tobacco, clove buds, and can additionally include a number of spices. In 2018, Indonesia produced about 110 billion machine-made full-flavored kretek sticks (SKM FF) and almost 130 billion machine-made low tar, low nicotine kretek cigarettes (SKM LTLN).