One of the main causes for the recent cheapening of some brands of cigarettes is the large number of products counterfeited in the country or smuggled into Moldova, says an investigation on the issue published on the portal www.oficial.md, which is quoted by IPN.
“Experts drew attention to the fact that even if Moldova is known as a country that rather exports counterfeit cigarettes to the EU, this year we witnessed a different situation. They told us that the Transnistrian region is a source of counterfeit or contraband cigarettes. The previous years, the products imported into Transnistria were taken to the European countries or the CIS through Ukraine. But, after the control on the border was toughened up, the exports to Ukraine decreased considerably and this made the smugglers reorient themselves to the territory controlled by Chisinau,” said the quoted source.
The portal quotes economic entities working in the field. According to them, the legal cigarettes market of Moldova continues to decline. About 5 billion cigarettes were produced or imported into Moldova in 2014, as against 7 billion in 2013. On the other hand, the situation in Transnistria is reverse. In 2013 production totaled about 14 billion cigarettes, while in 2014 - up to 18 billion. “It is evident that the products from Transnistria entered the market from the right side of the Nistru and, being cheaper, attracted many buyers. The legal producers had thus to take measures to counteract this phenomenon,” said the source.
According to the investigation, not only the legal business, but also the state was affected. Unofficial reports show the state budget incomes that came from the tobacco industry in 2014 fell under 1 billion lei, which is much lower compared with 2013.
“The strangest thing in this situation is that an erroneous picture concerning the use of tobacco products and the real number of smokers can be thus created. On paper the figures may decrease, but in reality they will increase, as the danger to the smokers’ health will do, because nobody will be able to guarantee a minimum safety level, as earlier,” said the source.
