Cigarette smuggling drops to 16.1% in Romania in May

Cigarette smuggling decreased by 1.1 percentage points to 16.1% in total consumption in May compared to March, according to a Novel Research study. Yet, the share remains higher than the 16% annual average recorded in 2017 and well above the 10% EU average. Major cigarette producers in Romania ask for a National Strategy to Fight Cigarette Smuggling and hope that the local authorities will back the initiative, as tobacco is the second largest contributor to the state budget, after oil sector. In fact, a BAT representative emphasized that cigarettes smuggling increase in H1 this year generated an additional EUR 16 million loss to the state budget. The north-east region remains the most affected by smuggling with a 40.4% share in total, followed by the western region. The illegal trade with cigarettes increased the most in north-west but fell significantly in the south-east. The major worry of the local cigarette producers is the strong increase of illegal trade with “cheap-whites” cigarettes, despite the implementation of the EC’s Track&Trace system, which should reduce smuggling. Those products represent 64.4% in total illegal trade with cigarettes in Romania. Cigarettes account for 6% of Romania’s consumer goods exports editor@romania-insider.com