Good and bad news on Latvia’s contraband sales

Twenty eight point nine percent of the cigarettes smoked in Latvia last year were contraband, according to a report in The Baltic Course (UK) citing a study carried out by AC Nielsen during the fourth quarter of 2014.

The good news is that 28.9 percent was the lowest proportion recorded by Latvia during the past five years and was massively reduced from the 44.6 percent recorded during 2010.

The bad news is that Latvia is still in first place in ‘Europe’ in respect of the percentage of contraband cigarettes consumed.

According to the study, 66.8 percent of the smuggled cigarettes consumed in Latvia arrive from Belarus while 29.8 percent come from Russia.

In Latvia, the average price of a pack of cigarettes is said to be €2.6, while in Russia a pack retails at €1.31 and in Belarus the retail price is €0.64.

The volume of cigarettes being smuggled into Latvia from Belarus has doubled since 2011, while the volume from Russia has been reduced three-fold.