Ireland ranks highly on illicit trade table

Ireland was the third highest on a list of EU countries for non-duty-paid tobacco (NDP) in 2013, according to a Sunday World story, which did not include the source of its figures.

It came behind Latvia and Lithuania.

But both of the Baltic states have decreased the level of their NDP tobacco sales significantly since 2012, while Ireland’s remains the same, at 28.3 percent.

Ireland has the EU’s second-highest average price for a pack of 20 cigarettes, €9.40, with the U.K. slightly ahead on €9.94.

The U.K. had nevertheless managed to decrease its NDP level from 21.5 percent in 2012 to just 15.6 percent last year.