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Kyrgyzstan - transit center for cigarette smuggling in EAEU

«Kyrgyzstan is currently a transit center for further spread of smuggling of tobacco products to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union,» deputy Azamat Arapbaev said at a meeting of the Committee on Economic and Fiscal Policy of the Parliament today.

He cited an official Rusbrand study on smuggling of tobacco products. The study was conducted on the territory of the EAEU states. It is noted that the losses of the Union countries amounted to at least $ 1 billion only on the excisable group of goods — cigarettes.

In 2018, the number of illegal cigarettes in the EAEU countries exceeded 20 billion pieces.

«Every year, 2.8 billion cigarettes are delivered to the official Duty Free points in Kyrgyzstan with a legal market in the republic of 3.2 billion. In total, 6.5 billion smoking units per year come through the Central Asian transit hub. According to the world trade data, cigarettes for $ 17 million were imported from Serbia into the Kyrgyz Republic in 2017. That is the import of 1 billion cigarettes from this country has not been declared. The EAEU budget did not receive the due customs and tax payments. We have passed a minimum sale price law. There is a significant presence of various brands of Serbian cigarettes on the market for 35-38 soms per pack with a minimum price of 60 soms set for 2019,» the deputy said.

Most cigarettes without excise stamps enter the Kyrgyz market from Arab and European countries, and Tajikistan.

Azamat Arapbaev

«In almost all trade outlets, 80 percent of cigarettes without excise stamps come from Tajikistan, 20 percent — from Duty Free points, located in the border areas. We need to step up work on detection of smuggling of tobacco products,» he said.

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