On November 7, Irina Bushina, Director of the ANO "NNCC", took part in the round table "Counterfeit tobacco: how to overcome the problem in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region?", which was held in the press center of the Business Petersburg edition.
Presentations were made by representatives of the Rosalkogoltabakcontrol Department for the Northwestern Federal District, law enforcement, supervisory, customs authorities in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, regional authorities, the Center for the Development of Advanced Technologies, the Association of Small-format Trade, tobacco manufacturers and public organizations.
Irina Bushina, referring to the results of the sixth All-Russian study, noted that the share of illegal cigarette trafficking increased in St. Petersburg (from 10.9% to 17.8%) and in the Leningrad Region (from 6.5% to 12%). These figures are higher than the national average (11.3%).
As the director of the ANO "NNCC" noted, the shadow market is growing in these regions mainly due to an increase in the import of illegal cigarettes from the EAEU countries, as well as from countries outside the EAEU. At the same time, there is a tendency to reduce the proportion of counterfeit cigarettes.
According to the ANO "NNCC", in the Leningrad region in the first quarter, authorized bodies seized tobacco products in the amount of 9.5 million pcs (for comparison, only 100 million pcs were seized in the Russian Federation during the same period), in St. Petersburg - 510 thousand pcs. Also, these subjects of the Russian Federation show positive dynamics in the initiation of criminal proceedings cases.
According to Irina Bushina, in the first half of 2024, the treasury received less than 50 billion 436 million rubles. The minimum losses of the federal budget in the North-West of the country amounted to 6 billion rubles, of which 35% accounted for St. Petersburg (2 billion 113 million rubles). Illegal trafficking in the Leningrad region caused damage to the budget in the amount of 707 million rubles.
During the event, the director of ANO "NNCC" also presented the results of research on illicit trafficking of nicotine-containing products in the Russian Federation in online and offline segments. Thus, the share of illicit trafficking in nicotine–containing products in retail outlets in 2023 reached 68.3%, including 90.2% in the category of nicotine–containing liquids and 51.2% in disposable devices. These data indicate a decrease in the share of illicit trafficking in nicotine-containing products in the Russian Federation compared to 2022, when the share of the shadow market was 79.2%.
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