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Over 40 million cigarettes seized by the authorities in the first half of 2024 in Romania

5 August 2024

In the first half of 2024, Romanian authorities confiscated over 40 million contraband cigarettes.
Their total value on the black market is over 40 million lei.
At the same time, the cigarettes black market exceeded the 10% threshold, the highest level in the last 3 years, according to Novel Research.
BAT's objective is to build A Better Tomorrow™, implicitly by supporting the efforts to combat illicit traffic activities.

Bucharest, 5th of August 2024 – In the first half of 2024, Romanian authorities seized over 40 million contraband cigarettes, of which over 75% were captured in the Southern part of the country. The value on the black market of cigarettes seized in the first months of the year amounts to over 40 million lei, according to data centralized on www.stopcontrabanda.ro, the single real-time centralizer of contraband cigarette seizures in Romania.

At the same time, the cigarettes black market reached 10.4% of the total consumption in May, compared to 9.8% at the end of March, according to the latest Novel Research study. This is the highest level of the black market registered since January 2020, which highlights the intense dynamics of this phenomenon in speculating the geopolitical instability and, implicitly, the continued need for intensifying the efforts to combat smuggling. A low level of illicit cigarette traffic means higher revenues for the state budget.

BAT, the largest player on the tobacco market in Romania, is also one of the largest contributors to the state budget. In 2023, on grounds of an annual smuggling average of 8.2%, BAT Romania had a total contribution of 10.8 billion lei in excises and taxes to the state budget. Romania's state budget loses about 2 billion lei annually because of tobacco smuggling, in the form of excise duties and taxes that have not been collected .

"For the first time in the last 3 years, the level of cigarette smuggling exceeded the threshold of 10% of the total market and this is a serious alarm signal regarding the need to intensify efforts to monitor illicit traffic at the country's borders. In this context, we welcome the Ministry of Finance's announcement regarding the operationalization of fixed and mobile scanning systems at the borders and the target to have 9 such devices already operating in Romanian customs by the end of the year.

The increase in the level of consumption of products from the black market translates both into major losses for the state budget and into a real threat to consumers` safety. That is why the measures to combat the phenomenon of illicit traffic at the country's borders must be complemented by a stable fiscal framework, correlated with the consumers` purchasing power and as well able to ensure the fiscal predictability that is necessary to combat smuggling. Cigarettes contraband affects directly the Romanian consumers, the state budget, but also the tax-paying companies and their employees", says Ileana Dumitru, External Affairs Director for the South Eastern Europe Area at BAT.

According to Nanny State Index 2023, Romania has the highest taxes for tobacco products versus the population's income and purchasing power while, at the opposite pole, countries such as Luxembourg, Austria or Germany have the lowest levels of tobacco taxation .

The largest contraband seizures of 2024, in the Southern areas of the country

The largest seizures of contraband cigarettes, representing 75% of the total volume seized until July, were registered in the Southern part of the country, on grounds of significantly lower cigarette prices in the countries bordering Romania's Southern areas.

The largest seizures of contraband cigarettes were tracked by the Romanian authorities in the first half of the year in Teleorman (9.9 million cigarettes), Dolj (7.2 million cigarettes) and Giurgiu (5.3 million cigarettes). Significant volumes were also seized in Caraș Severin this year, a substantial seizure where more than 5 million contraband cigarettes were confiscated at the beginning of July.

Romania has 2,000 km of border with non-EU countries, where the price of tobacco can be up to three times lower, and each container of illegal cigarettes means 1 million euros in profit for the smuggling networks.

Data on the evolution of cigarette seizures in Romania are centralized in real time on www.stopcontrabanda.ro platform, a BAT initiative that aims to support the authorities by centralizing information on contraband seizures across the country, but also to inform consumers about to the effects of cigarette smuggling on society. The campaign is carried out in partnership with the Romanian Police, the Romanian Border Police, the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) and the Romanian Customs Authority. The "Stop Contrabanda" campaign was launched in the Spring of 2017 by BAT to create a unique information point on cigarette smuggling.

1. According to industry estimates

2. https://nannystateindex.org/