The cigarette market up to €2.5 bln, exceeds telecom market

“According to our estimates, the cigarette market in Romania, including the black market, was worth €2.5 bln, and the total volume reached 1.7 billion packs. Thus, in terms of value, last year’s cigarette market exceeded other markets, such as telecom, IT, and beer,” said Gilda Lazar, Corporate Affairs Director of JTI Romania, one of the major local producers.

Lazar said that the significant increase in value was due to higher excise taxes, which led to higher prices and a rise in the volume of premium cigarettes sold.

Market leader British American Tobacco’s (BAT) Corporate Affairs Director, Adrian Popa, said some 30.8 billion cigarettes were sold legally and were subject to excise taxes last year. The remainder were cigarettes smuggled into the country and sold illegally. Popa added that the black cigarette trade amounted to 12 percent of the overall cigarette market, 3 percent lower year-on- year.

Producers estimate a drop in cigarette consumption in 2008, down to 34.5 billion cigarettes, partly due to warnings posted on cigarette packs and increased awareness of the risks of excessive smoking.

Romanians smoke an average 1,400 cigarettes annually, lower than Bulgarians (2,793 cigarettes per capita) and Hungarians (2,152 cigarettes).