Passenger imports of snus, an orally ingested tobacco product, increased by 23 percent last year compared with 2017.
According to a survey by the Finance Ministry, passengers imported about 17.5 million snus packages to Finland. In contrast, the import of cigarettes dropped by 30 percent to 351 million.
The number of imported cigarettes has fallen considerably in the past decade. At its highest, the travelers brought 800 million cigarettes into Finland in 2008, the ministry said.
Last year, most cigarettes were sold on ferries or brought from Estonia or Russia. Meanwhile, Sweden is the only EU country that allows the sale of snus.
Currently, Finnish Customs rules allow private persons to bring to Finland up to one kilogram of snus per day for personal use.
A social affairs and health ministry working group proposed last year that the limit should be lowered to 100 grams, while the Finnish Medical Association wants to ban the product altogether.