Romania’s black market for cigarettes went up to 15.9% of the whole market in 2014, compared to 13.7% the previous year. Last year's figure is the highest annual average since 2011, according to data from research company Novel.

The figures increased in all of Romania's regions in 2014, except for the north-west and west areas, which recorded some drops last year.

“The region most affected by the black market in 2014 was the north-east region (plus 7.2 percentage points year-on-year, to 33.2% of the total black market). The south-east region also registered a significant increase (plus 4.2 percentage points compared to 2013, to 14.6%),” said Marian Marcu, manager of Novel Research.

In terms of origin, the so-called “cheap whites” continued to hold the largest share, of 46% of the black market, up 12.6 percentage points compared to 2013.

On the other hand, the share of products smuggled from Moldova, Ukraine and Serbia was lower in 2014, compared to the previous year.

The tobacco industry is the second-largest contributor to Romania's state budget, after oil companies.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com