The share of illicit tobacco trafficking in Russia in 2022 was 12.1%. This is stated in the study of the Autonomous Non-profit Organization "National Scientific Center of Competencies in the field of combating Illicit Trafficking in Industrial Products" (NCCR), presented during a press conference in TASS.
"The share of illicit trafficking in tobacco products was 12.1%. The regions in which the study revealed the highest concentration of illegal products are the Novgorod, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Smolensk and Bryansk regions, as well as Kabardino-Balkaria, the share of illegal trafficking there ranges from 32.7% (Bryansk region) to 43.6% (Novgorod region)," said Irina Bushina, Director of the NCCR.
According to her, most of these regions are border regions of Russia, but a high level of illegal trafficking is also recorded in the interior - in Tver (28.9%), Yaroslavl (34.1%), Kostroma (29.2%) regions.
According to the study, the share of illegal products in the Southern Federal District was 19.4%, the North Caucasus - 15.4%, the North-West - 14.4%. The smallest share of illicit tobacco trafficking was recorded in the Far Eastern Federal District - 2.9%.
According to Bushina, the largest contribution to illicit trafficking is made by cigarettes illegally imported into the Russian Federation from the EAEU member states, the weight of this factor increased from 6.7% in 2021 to 7.5% in 2022. Traditionally, this segment is dominated by products of Belarusian origin - it accounts for 92% of all illegal products now from the EAEU member states against 93% in the third quarter of 2021. At the same time, the share of packs with the Belarusian excise stamp (without excise stamp of the Russian Federation) amounted to 61.2%, and the share of illegal imports from three other EAEU countries is less than the volume of imported products from Belarus.
"Despite serious economic challenges, due to the coordination of the efforts of government agencies and the use of digital marking tools, the situation with illegal trafficking as a whole has been kept within the indicators of previous periods," Bushina added.
About the research
The field research was conducted in 85 subjects of the Russian Federation. The field research period is the second and third quarters of 2022.
The research covered territories with a population of 87 million citizens (59% of the population of the Russian Federation).
In the course of the research, 69 393 packs of cigarettes were studied in 2022.
Source:
tass.ru