{"id":429403,"date":"2025-06-11T15:57:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T13:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/06\/11\/sigarette-illegali-rapporto-kpmg-pmi-2024\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T16:55:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T14:55:55","slug":"eu-nearly-39-billion-illegal-cigarettes-in-2024-e15-billion-in-uncollected-taxes-goes-up-in-smoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/06\/11\/eu-nearly-39-billion-illegal-cigarettes-in-2024-e15-billion-in-uncollected-taxes-goes-up-in-smoke\/","title":{"rendered":"EU, nearly 39 billion illegal cigarettes in 2024. \u20ac15 billion in uncollected taxes goes up in smoke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The consumption of illegal cigarettes is growing across Europe<\/strong>, albeit slightly: in 2024, more than 52 billion were smoked, 10 per cent of the total and 0.2 per cent more than in 2023. Leading the way are the EU Member States, primarily France and the Netherlands. In Italy, growth was almost zero, basically maintaining the same level as in recent years.<\/p>\n

The data was put in black and white by the consulting agency KPMG<\/strong>, in the 19th study<\/a> commissioned by Philip Morris International (PMI)<\/strong> on the flows of illegal tobacco products<\/strong>\u2014 including heated tobacco devices\u2014in 38 markets on the Old Continent<\/strong> (the 27 EU members, the six Western Balkan countries, Moldova, Norway, the UK, Switzerland, and Ukraine). The report was presented today (11 June) at an event organised by the Nato Defence College Foundation<\/strong>, entitled “Europe’s Economy and Security at Risk”.<\/p>\n

According to the figures, last year the volume of such illegal consumption stood at 52.2 billion units<\/strong> in the 38 surveyed countries.\u00a0This figure, which equates to\u00a0one illegal cigarette for every 10 consumed<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>includes\u00a0counterfeit cigarettes, smuggled cigarettes, and so-called\u00a0<\/strong>illicit whites<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(legally produced but smuggled into countries where distribution is limited or non-existent).<\/span>\u00a0Overall, this is a 0.2 per cent increase over 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But not all of Europe saw the same trend. In the twenty-seven countries, the consumption of illicit cigarettes increased by 10.8 per cent<\/strong>, reaching a\u00a0record figure of 38.9 billion units<\/strong>. That is 9.2 per cent of total cigarette consumption, the highest level since 2015.<\/p>\n

France represents the largest illegal market<\/strong> on the continent in absolute terms. Here in 2024, 18.7 billion cigarettes were smoked illegally<\/strong>: more than one in every three cigarettes lit in France (37.6 per cent) was sold illegally, and of these, 7.8 billion were counterfeit. In relative terms, the strongest increase in illicit consumption (of total cigarettes consumed)\u00a0occurred in the\u00a0Netherlands<\/strong>, where a\u00a010.2 per cent increase\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>over the previous 12 months<\/strong> was recorded, standing at 17.9 per cent.<\/p>\n

\n

38.9 billion illicit cigarettes were consumed across the EU in 2024.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s nearly 1 in 10 cigarettes.<\/p>\n

Counterfeit consumption alone rose by 20.2% in just one year.<\/p>\n

Illicit trade isn\u2019t just a black-market issue; it\u2019s a threat to public health, public security, and\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/yW7iVU4xNq<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Philip Morris International (@InsidePMI) June 11, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In contrast, in several EU countries (including Bulgaria, Greece, and Portugal) and non-EU countries (especially Ukraine), illegal cigarette consumption decreased significantly. The highest drop was recorded in Kyiv<\/strong>, where smuggling and counterfeiting volumes\u00a0decreased by 29 per cent<\/strong>\u00a0compared to last year, while\u00a0Athens<\/strong>\u00a0recorded a\u00a06.2 per cent<\/strong>\u00a0year-on-year decrease<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Italian data remain substantially unchanged<\/strong> from the\u00a0previous survey<\/a>, confirming Italy’s international standing\u00a0as a best practice example. Out of a total of 59.8 billion cigarettes smoked in The Boot during 2024, approximately 1.1 billion were illegal, or 1.8 per cent<\/strong>: an almost zero increase (+0.02 per cent<\/strong>) on the previous year.\u00a0In total, the market for illegal cigarettes in Italy, which has its strongholds mainly in\u00a0<\/span>Friuli-Venezia Giulia<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Campania,\u00a0<\/strong>is worth approximately\u00a0<\/span>\u20ac226 million in uncollected taxes<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The\u00a0black market for cigarettes is a\u00a0multidimensional problem<\/strong>, with<\/span>\u00a0repercussions in various areas. “The illicit tobacco trade threatens the European economy, public health, security, and social stability<\/strong>,” said Christos Harpantidis<\/strong>, Senior Vice President, External Affairs for SMEs. “Its huge socio-economic impact negatively affects tax collection, job creation, and legal businesses.” In 2024, EU governments lost almost \u20ac15 billion in tax revenue<\/strong> (around \u20ac9 billion in France alone), a figure that exceeds \u20ac19 billion when considering all 38 countries analysed by the report.<\/p>\n

The problem is that some anti-smoking policies are substantially ineffective (with respect to the goal of reducing consumption) if not actually counterproductive (in terms of losses to the treasury): high<\/strong>\u00a0and sudden increases in taxation on cigarettes<\/strong> do not make people stop smoking but, if anything, push consumers to seek cheaper products on the black market<\/strong>, as in the case of France and the Netherlands (where unit costs for tobacco items are significantly higher than elsewhere), ending up only benefiting criminal networks, smugglers, and counterfeiters<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The solution proposed by PMI\u00a0is “evidence-based regulation<\/strong>, with a balanced taxation<\/strong>, continuous public-private cooperation<\/strong> and increased support to regional and national law enforcement<\/strong>,” to counter criminal organisations that are consolidating their presence precisely in countries where prices are highest, such as those in Western Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The report by KPMG for Philip Morris International shows very different trends among European countries: Ukraine shows the biggest drop in the size of the black market, France is at the tail end (due to high unit prices). In Italy, consumption remains stable<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":232543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[31475,31476,31474,28973],"class_list":["post-429403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-market-black-en","tag-cigarettes-counterfeit-en","tag-kpmg-en","tag-philip-morris-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429403"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":429412,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429403\/revisions\/429412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}