Share of illegal tobacco products on Ukrainian market reaches 16.2%, counterfeited 8.8% - study

MOSCOW. June 30 (Interfax) - The volume of bootlegged cigarettes sold in Ukraine continued to grow to reach 16.2% in April 2025, compared to 14.1% at the start of the year, Ukrainian media reported citing the findings of a study of illegal tobacco product sales in Ukraine conducted by Kantar Ukraine, which were published on Monday

With this amount of illegal cigarettes on the Ukrainian market, the state budget's annual losses from unpaid taxes are estimated at UAH 25.2 billion, and the volume of the shadow tobacco market exceeds 5 billion cigarettes, Kantar Ukraine found.

"We continued to observe growth in the volume of illegal tobacco products and a significant increase in the share of counterfeited products on the Ukrainian market to 8.8% in April 2025, against 6.4% in February 2025. In average annual terms, over a third of all bootlegged products, 39%, has indications of counterfeited excise stamps. Judging by labelling, 33% of them were manufactured by Marshall Finest Tobacco/United Tobacco/VK Tobacco FZE and another 6% by Ukrainian Tobacco Production LLC," Katar Ukraine analyst Tatyana Sverdlik was quoted as saying.

A considerable share of tobacco products sold illegally in Ukraine was labeled Duty Free or intended for exports. Over half of those products were manufactured by the Vynnyky Tobacco Factory, as seen from the labeling. The principal brands of this group are Compliment (47%) and Lifa (5%). The manufacturer of the other 43% of such tobacco products is Marshall Finest Tobacco, the most common brands being Marshall (26%), Urta (9%), and Brut (3%).

As before, the largest volumes of sales of illegal tobacco products were recorded in six regions of Ukraine, which aggregately account for 71% of this market. These are the Dnepropetrovsk region with 27%, the Odessa region with 13%, the Lvov region with 10%, the Kharkov region with 9%, the city of Kiev and the Kiev region with 7%, and the Khmelnitsky region with 6%, it said.

A considerable amount, 67%, of illegal tobacco products was sold through kiosks and shops in April 2025, Kantar Ukraine said.