The black market for cigarettes in Romania went slightly down to 15.4% in September, compared to 17% in July, according to the recent data provided by research company Novel. This is the lowest level registered this year, but it’s higher however than the 13% annual average registered in 2012 and 2013.

“The West region is the most affected by illegal trade of cigarettes in September, the black market registering a fulminant increase in this area – by 16 percentage points, to 42.1%,” said Marian Marcu, manager of Novel Research.

An important growth was also registered in the North East region, where the cigarette smuggling went up 1.8 percentage points, to 35.9%.

Large decreases were reported in North West region and Bucharest – down 7.9 percentage points each, in South East – down 6.9 percentage points and in South West – down 2.6 percentage points.

The so called “cheap whites” hold the largest share of the black market, namely 48.7%, according to Marcu.

“The decrease registered by the black market in September is the result of the authorities’ efforts to combat smuggling, supported by tobacco companies,” said Gilda Lazar, Director Corporate Affairs & Communications, JTI Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria.

The tobacco industry is the second-highest contributor to the Romanian state budget, after oil companies.

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