The black market for illegal cigarettes reached in March 15.2%, down from 19.2% in January. It is, however, still higher than the average of the last four years - 14.7%.

In northwestern Romania, the illegal cigarette trade went down by 7%, to 13.3%. Meanwhile, in western Romania it went down by 5.3%, reaching 24.1%, whereas in the South-West it decreased by 4.6%, to 21.7%.

Northeastern Romania remains the most affected region, even though cigarette smuggling dropped by 6.5%, reaching 34.7%.

Illicit cigarette trade from Ukraine and Serbia remained the same, amounting to 20%, respectively 2.9%. However, cigarette smuggling from the Republic of Moldova increased by 6.8%, to 27.6%.

editor@romania-insider.com