German Smokers Buying More Smuggled Cigarettes, Welt Reports

German smokers are buying more smuggled cigarettes as domestic ones become too expensive, Welt reported, citing a survey by the HWWI research institute.
Twenty percent of all cigarettes were smuggled or privately imported from European Union countries, the newspaper said today. Most of the smuggled cigarettes come from Ukraine and Russia, according to Welt.
The German government is losing about 4 billion euros ($5.6 billion) a year, while the cigarette industry and retailers are losing 1.2 billion euros because of smuggling and private imports, Welt said. The average price of a pack of cigarettes in Germany is 4.25 euros, compared with less than 2 euros on the black market, according to the newspaper.