The most affected region was northeastern Romania, where the cigarette black market stood at 26% of total sales, Novel Research manager Marian Marcu said in a press release.
The Republic of Moldova and Ukraine were the main source for the illicit cigarette trade, with shares of 23.2% and 22.8%, respectively, in total smuggling.
The share of “cheap whites” — cigarettes that have no legitimate market — is 34.9% of the overall black market, Marcu said.
The illicit trade of Duty Free products accounted for 4.2% of the illicit cigarette trade in July, he added.
In 2012, cigarette producers paid taxes and excise duties worth over EUR3 billion. The largest cigarette producers present locally are JTI, BAT and Philip Morris.