Sales of smuggled cigarettes up by 15% in Romania, study shows

The cigarette consumption in Romania remained relatively stable last year, but legal sales dropped by 4 percent, while consumption of smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes increased by 15 percent causing losses of EUR 311 million to the state, according to a study conducted by KPMG, quoted by Mediafax. The total consumption fell by 2 percent last year, to some 26.5 billion cigarettes. The cigarettes that are not sold on the local market but are legally introduced in Romania, such as those brought from a trip, stagnated last year at 380 million. This represents 1.4 percent of the total consumption. Legal sales dropped by 4 percent last year, to 24.49 billion cigarettes. The inflows of cigarettes on the Romanian market grew by 13 percent last year, to 3.27 billion. The growth was mainly fueled by cheap cigarettes manufactured for the sole purpose of being sold labeled as duty free. Their number increased 2.5 times, to a total of 1.12 billion cigarettes. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com