Illegal cigarettes account for more than 29 per cent of the market, costing legal manufacturers about ZAR 2 billion (EUR 141 million) a year in sales, according to South African Revenue Services (SARS) data.

Illicit trade is estimated at 15 million cigarettes a day, the equivalent of 750,000 packs of 20, SARS said in a statement distributed by the South African Government News Agency.
“Over the past 10 years, organised crime groups have advanced from supplying counterfeits to now managing all aspects of the production process, from sourcing raw tobacco product through to developing specific tobacco packaging”, SARS said.