The shadow sector’s share of the tobacco market dropped to 12.6% compared to 25.7% in October 2023.
Part of the illegal tobacco market in Ukraine has split over the past year. This is what the general director of the association said Ukrtabak Natalya Fesyun at a meeting with the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) of Ukraine, where the results of the bureau’s work were discussed, as well as proposals for further measures to combat illegal trade in excisable goods, reports of UNN on Monday, December 23.
According to him, the data from the latest “wave” of research on the illegal tobacco market conducted SONG Ukraine (marketing data and analytics company, – ed.), indicates that the shadow sector’s share of the tobacco market decreased to 12.6% compared to 25.7% in October 2023.
“We are ending the year quite optimistically, as evidenced by KANTAR data However, after the completion of active measures by law enforcement and regulatory authorities, illegal products began to appear on the shelves So, we hope that the pace of the fight will not slow down,” Fesyun noted.
According to representatives of the Bureau of Economic Security, since the beginning of the year, 237 criminal proceedings related to the illegal trafficking of tobacco products have been sent to court and 16 industrial production lines have been seized. The value of seized items is more than UAH 1.3 billion.
Also during the meeting, those present discussed plans to develop legislative changes that would facilitate globe shadowing. We are talking about increasing responsibility for committing crimes under Article 204 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, as well as introducing changes in the procedure for storing seized goods and equipment for in their production.
According to association members Ukrtabakthe discussed initiatives including the introduction of GPS control posts and a 24-hour video surveillance system in tobacco manufacturing enterprises will have a positive impact on reducing the share of the shadow market for cigarettes.
We remind you that in August 2023, the leadership of the Bureau of Economic Security changed.
It was also reported that an illegal cigarette production line at one of the prominent tobacco factories was seized in Kyiv.
And in the Lviv region, electronic cigarettes worth 24 million hryvnias were seized.
Source: korrespondent
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