The shadow cigarette market in Ukraine has sharply decreased.
According to the project "Monitoring of illegal trade in tobacco products in Ukraine", in July 2024, the level of illegal trade in cigarettes in Ukraine decreased to 14.6%. This is a decrease compared to the beginning of the year (19.1%) and April (18%).
Ukraine's state budget losses from illegal trade are estimated at 23 billion UAH, and the volume of the shadow cigarette market amounts to 6.65 billion units. Analyst Tatyana Sverlik notes that there is a decrease in smuggling and counterfeits, including counterfeit excise stamps.
33% of counterfeit cigarettes have counterfeit excise stamps, particularly produced by United Tobacco / Marshall Finest Tobacco / VK Tobacco FZE (17%) and "Ukrainian Tobacco Production" (16%).
52% of illegal cigarette products traded in Ukraine with the Duty Free mark or intended for export are identified as products of the Vynnyky Tobacco Factory. The Compliment and Lifa brands of this manufacturer with the Duty Free inscription make up 51% of all illegal products in this group. 6 regions of Ukraine, including Dnipropetrovsk (22%), Odesa (11%), Kharkiv (11%), Kyiv and Kyiv region (9%), Khmelnytskyi (8%), and Lviv (8%) have the highest level of distribution of illegal products.
Kiosks and shops remain the main channels for selling illegal cigarettes, through which 66% of such products are sold.
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