Center for Market Education CEO Carmelo Ferlito said illicit cigarettes now cost between RM3 and RM6 a pack and up to RM20 for legal cigarettes, which he said are made expensive by high duties.

He predicted that restricting sales to those who turn 18 next year would lead to illicit traders capturing the market for this age group. He thus urged the government to create an environment for alternative and less harmful products.

Yesterday, health minister Khairy Jamaluddin told a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting in Geneva that Malaysia hoped to pass legislation this year to prohibit the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products including vape and e-cigarettes, to people born after 2005.

The Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MICCI) also predicted that an “uncontrollable black market” for cigarettes and vapes would develop.

MICCI executive director Shaun Cheah said the organisation supports the health ministry’s efforts to combat the high incidence of smoking in Malaysia. However, the chamber criticised what it called an “arbitrary setting of policies” and regulations.

He said MICCI believed that a ban will drive consumers “to unregulated hazardous black market sources”.

Cheah said high excise duties imposed on cigarettes in 2015 had led to six out of every 10 packs of cigarettes sold in Malaysia coming from illegal sources.