The northeastern region continues to be the most affected by illicit cigarette trade, with a black market share of 42.5%, up by 7.2 percentage points compared with July.
The highest growth of cigarette smuggling was registered in the southeastern region, by 8.3 percentage points, to 18.5%, while the northwestern, western and southwestern areas continue to register high values (24.5%, 24.3% and 24.1%, respectively).
Smuggling from Ukraine continued to increase, smuggling from Moldova followed a downward trend while cigarette smuggling from Serbia remained constant, the data showed.
“Cheap whites”, cigarettes that have no legitimate market, continue to account for the largest part of the black market, of 60%.
The tobacco industry is the second largest tax payer in Romania after the oil industry. In 2015, the tobacco industry contributed around EUR3 billion to the state budget.