Cigarette smuggling in Romania grows to 15.7% in July

The cigarettes black market in Romania grew to 15.7 percent in July this year, with 3.9 percentage points more than the level reported in May, according to Novel Research. “There may be multiple causes, such as seasonality, expectations about the excise, prices reduction on the black market while legal prices increased, and why not, demotivation of those called to enforce the law, due to lower wages and restructuring processes of the National Tax Administration Agency, the National Customs Authority and the Ministry of Interior”, said Gilda Lazar, director of corporate affairs & communications at JTI Romania. In January, 2010, cigarettes smuggling went to a historical level of 36.2 percent, as a result of massive increases in excise on cigarettes. In 2010 the market fell to 22.7 billion legal cigarettes compared with 2009, while the illegal market grew by 8.7 billion cigarettes, representing 27 percent of total consumption. The Romanian cigarette market in represented by the business of three international companies - British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, and JTI. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: Sxc.hu)