Romania’s black market for cigarettes decreased to 14.1% in May, from 15.2% in March. It thus went below the average of the last four years, of 14.7%, according to data from research company Novel Research.

In May, compared to March, significant decreases were registered in the south-west region – minus 8.2 percentage points, to 6.1%, and in the west area – minus 7.3 percentage points, to 16.9%. Northeastern Romania remains the most affected region, with a level of cigarette smuggling of 34.2%.

In terms of origin, the so-called “cheap whites” continued to hold the largest share, of 55.8% of the black market, up 15 percentage points compared to March.

Illicit cigarette trade from Ukraine (14.1%) and Moldova (23%) dropped in May while cigarette smuggling from Serbia remained at the same level of some 2.2%.

“Border police captured over 1.5 million packs of cigarettes in the first four months of 2015 and dismantled 10 criminal networks. Police have conducted over 200 searches in May alone, aiming to dismantle criminal groups,” said Gilda Lazar, Corporate Affairs & Communications manager, JTI Romania, Moldova, and Bulgaria.

The tobacco industry is the second-largest contributor to Romania’s state budget, after oil companies. In 2014, this industry paid excise duties, VAT, taxes and contributions worth EUR 2.7 billion to the state budget. The amount represents 1.75% of GDP and 12.5% of total budgetary revenues.

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