RIGA, Feb 18 (LETA) - The illegal cigarettes market in Latvia in 2020 was at 20.4 percent or by 3.6 percentage points higher than in 2019, The Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) reported, citing data of Nielsen market research company.

LCCI said that thus Latvia is nearing Lithuania, where the share of illicit cigarettes was 21.8 percent, while in Estonia it was considerably lower - 9.5 percent.

LCCI board chairman Janis Endzins said that this growth of the illegal market has been caused by several factors - impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy and purchasing power, ban on menthol cigarettes, excise tax policy in Latvia.

"In the past years we saw the illegal market decline, reaching the lowest level of the past years, but now there is not reason to hope for positive changes. Most believably, the negative trends will stay in the future and will also definitely affect the group of alternative or smokeless cigarettes as excise tax on these products was increased steeply, despite objections of experts," said Endzins.

According to Nielsen, 12 percent of illegal cigarettes are counterfeit, accounting for 2.4 percent of all cigarettes market.

The majority or 67.2 percent of contraband cigarettes come from Belarus. Like before, 61 percent of all illegal cigarettes come from Grodno tobacco plant - Premier, NZ, Fest, Minsk, Queen.

Analyzing distribution of illegal cigarettes in Latvia, there is a considerable share of illegal cigarettes market in Daugavpils (44.7 percent), Ogre (38 percent), Liepaja (33.3 percent), Jekabpils and Salaspils (30 percent). In Riga this market accounted for 18.9 percent.

The study by Nielsen is based on examination of discarded cigarette packs that were picked up in public places in September 2020 in 25 largest towns in Latvia, accounting for 61 percent of total population, collecting 4,900 discarded cigarette packs.