The cigarette black market slightly dropped in September this year, to 14.8% of the total market, compared to 15.3% in July, according to market research company Novel Research.

However, smuggling continues to be above the average of the last four years of 14.7%.

In September 2015, the cigarette smuggling saw the highest growth in Romania’s north-west region, of 14.6 percentage points compared to July, reaching 24.9%.

The north-east region remains the area most affected, as the cigarette smuggling reached 31.4% in September.

editor@romania-insider.com