From: Romania-Insider.com
Cigarette smuggling reached 15.8 percent in March in Romania, up 0.1 percentage point, with higher smuggling ratios in the North-East and Western regions, according to Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Romania, citing data from Novel Research.
Cigarette smuggling was at 32.4 percent in the North – East region, and at 30.8 percent in West, both up – by 8.2 percentage points and 9.7 percentage points, respectively.
In Romania’s southern region, smuggling reached 7.6 percent, up for the third time in a row, while in Bucharest, it dropped by 7.2 percentage points, to 6.6 percent.
“Cheap Whites” cigarettes make half of the black market in Romania, said Marian Marcu, head of Novel Research. Cigarettes packs with labels from Moldova and Ukraine are also on an upwards trend, while those with Serbian labels, as well as those from duty free shops, are decreasing, Marcu further explained.
