23% of residents in Latvia, their friends or acquaintances have bought contraband goods this year, which is three percentage points more when compared with 2022.
74% of interviewed Latvian residents said they, their friends or acquaintances have bought contraband goods such as cigarettes, tobacco and nicotine products, alcohol or fuel in 2023 (78% in 2022), as mentioned by SKDS survey company manager Arnis Kaktiņš on Wednesday, the 28th of June.
Most respondents or 69% said they would not know where to purchase contraband goods if such a need ever appeared.
Compared with 2022, the proportion of respondents who don’t know where to purchase contraband goods has gone up from 56% to 69%.
At the same time, Kaktiņš admitted that the proportion of residents who don’t known where to purchase contraband goods was on a rise every year until last year. Nevertheless, this year the number of people like that has gone down by three percentage points.
He did say this is not a significant drop.
In the survey 22% of respondents said they know where to buy contraband cigarettes. 11% said they know where to buy contraband alcohol. 9% said they know where to purchase contraband fuel. 3% of respondents said they know where to purchase e-cigarettes, heated tobacco or nicotine pads.
The main motivation that drives people to purchase contraband goods remains their price, said Kaktiņš. Of the respondents who have purchased contraband goods this year,
96% admitted that they do it because contraband goods are cheaper than legal goods. 21% said
they are of the same quality as legal goods, whereas 7% mentioned those goods are sold by people they now and they purchase contraband goods to support those people.
When asked how the war in Ukraine has affected the volume of contraband goods in Latvia, opinions differed among residents.
Approximately one-third of respondents believe the volumes of contraband fuel (33%), alcohol (35%) and cigarettes (35%) have not changed. Approximately one-fifth of respondents believe the volume of contraband fuel (20%), alcohol (18.%) and cigarettes (18%) have increased.
Kaktiņš stressed that Latvian residents’ tolerance of contraband goods has gone down slightly over the course of the year – last year 28% of Latvian residents said they do not consider purchase of contraband goods something to frown at, whereas 60% of respondents said purchase of contraband goods is unacceptable.
Compared with the situation ten years ago – in 2013 a total of 46% of respondents believed purchase of contraband goods is nothing bad,
whereas 42% condemned this practice.
The most popular contraband product in Latvia is cigarettes and other tobacco and nicotine products – 12% of respondents mentioned having purchased such products. Another 10% admitted having friends and acquaintances who have. 4% of respondents admitted to purchasing contraband fuel.
Kaktiņš said this year there’s been a drop in the proportion of residents who believe the country’s fight against contraband is successful. 23% of respondents said the same this year and 31% said as much in 2022.
52% of respondents said the state should crack down on smugglers even more (53% last year).
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