Overall tobacco consumption declined 2% to 26.56 billion cigarettes last year. Sales of illegal tobacco rose 15% on the year to 2.9 billion cigarettes, but legal tobacco sales were down 4% to 24.49 billion cigarettes.
“If the 2.89 billion counterfeit and contraband cigarettes in 2013 had been legally purchased in Romania, the tax revenue gained would have been approximately EUR311million,” the report showed.
KPMG’s report was commissioned by the four largest tobacco makers in the European Union, namely British American Tobacco, Imperial, Japan Tobacco International and Philip Morris International.
According to the report, most of the counterfeit cigarettes in Romania come from Ukraine. KPMG said 87% of the counterfeit packs collected during an empty pack survey bore Ukrainian labeling, with the most counterfeited brand being Viceroy.