Easter 2026 comes with a hidden risk

A survey conducted at the request of Spirits Romania in December 2025 revealed that approximately 90% of consumers are eyeing promotions during the holidays and illegal beverages are seen as a way to save money.

Despite the health risks, only 8% of Romanians prioritize safe provenance, and 40% say they rarely or never check official product labels.

“The black market in alcohol proliferates during periods of high consumption, such as the holidays. This year, however, we are talking about an even more dangerous situation as, compared to 2024, consumers pay 4.13 lei in extra taxes for each 700 ml bottle of spirits, an increase of 26% in just 12 months,” said Florin Rădulescu, president of Spirits Romania.

A Roland Berger study published in October 2025 estimated that between 30% and 40% of the consumption of spirits in Romania was untaxed, being associated with illicit production, smuggling or counterfeit products, generating annual losses between 45 and 65 million euros.

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„The state collects approximately two-thirds of the total taxes on alcohol in the spirits sector, but does not allocate resources to combat the black market that devastates both the industry and consumers. In the absence of consistent public action, the gap left by the authorities is covered, year after year, even by legal producers who finance, from their own funds, education and awareness campaigns. However, these cannot replace the responsibility and role of the state”, Florin Rădulescu also declared.

In 2025, the amount of excised alcohol registered a contraction of 7% compared to 2024 in the case of spirits, the equivalent of almost 7 million 700 ml bottles (at 40% alcohol content).

This sudden „disappearance” of approximately 7 million bottles of spirits from the taxed market generated budget revenues lower by approximately 154 million lei compared to the level forecasted by the industry taking into account the increase in excise duties in 2025.