According to Marian Marcu, general director of Novel Research, in terms of product origin, the first supplier of the shadow market in Romania remains Bulgaria with 35.2%. In second place is the Duty Free system with a share of 26.3%. In third place is Moldova with 18.4%.
Overall, the market for illicit cigarettes in Romania decreased in September to 9.6% of total consumption, down from 11.9% in July. In September, a decrease in the share of illicit trade was recorded in almost all regions of the country. The most significant decrease was recorded in the South-West zone – by 8.5 p.p., amounting to 10% in September.
According to Antonio Venchesla, Corporate Affairs Director of JTI Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria, dialog between institutions, efforts of authorities and consistent tax policy can determine the reduction of illicit trade in cigarettes. He noted that tobacco companies, which belong to the category of large taxpayers, annually transfer more than 22 billion lei to the Romanian state budget.
Iliana Dumitru, director of external relations for the Southern Europe region at British American Tobacco, said that in 2024, the company was the second largest taxpayer to the state budget, with 11.5 billion Romanian lei in taxes paid.
In the first 9 months of 2025, the Romanian Border Police confiscated about 5.1 million packs of cigarettes worth more than 100 million lei. During the same period, more than 63 tons of loose tobacco and 23 kg of hookah tobacco were seized for further confiscation. Romanian police dismantled 16 criminal groups and recovered more than 97 million cigarettes and more than 3.1 tons of tobacco originating from illicit activities.
