Politic-Social

The cigarette black market remains high in Romania. In February, the black market represented 10.9% of consumption, a higher level than in 2025 and 2024. According to the study by the company Novel, the cigarette black market decreased in February 2026 by 1.7 percentage points, to 10.9% of total consumption, compared to 12.6% in November 2025. The February level is above the average illegal trade in 2025, of 10.6%, and above that of 2024, of 9%. "In February 2026, there are decreases in illegal trade in several regions of the country. The most significant is noted in the west, where smuggling decreases by 10.8 p.p., up to 10%. Also, in the northeast region, which has been the most affected by the black market for years, illegal trade decreases by 7.2 p.p., up to 8.1%. From the point of view of the origin of products, the first source for the black market in Romania remains Bulgaria with 30.8%, slightly increasing by 0.7 p.p. The share of products originating from the Republic of Moldova decreases by 5.5 p.p. to 18.3%," said Marian Marcu, director of the research company. The Director of External Affairs of the South East Europe Area of ￢￢BAT, Ileana Dumitru, says that in order to return to below 10% and even below the European average of 9.2%, efforts to combat the illicit market need to be intensified. Representatives of the Border Police announced that in 2025, over 6.6 million packs of cigarettes were confiscated, with an estimated value of approximately 146.2 million lei. At the same time, over 65 tons of loose tobacco and approximately 27 kilograms of hookah tobacco were seized for confiscation during the same period. Tobacco companies, which are in the category of large taxpayers, annually transfer over 22 billion lei to the state budget, representing excise duties, VAT and other taxes and contributions.