Current Shortage in Russian E-cigarette Market Revealed

On September 12th, Wang Juncheng, the General Manager of Russian customs clearance company E-Speed, revealed to 2FIRSTS that the e-cigarette market in Russia is currently facing a shortage of supply. He stated, "As long as there is merchandise available, it will sell like hotcakes in the Russian market."

Explaining the reason behind this, Wang Juncheng attributes it mainly to the rigorous inspections at the Kazakhstan border, which prevent a significant amount of "grey zone" e-cigarette products from entering Russia through Kazakhstan. "There are probably hundreds of tons of e-cigarettes being held at the Kazakhstan ports," he said.

He also stated that the stringent inspections in Kazakhstan may be a result of pressure imposed by the Russian government, and that Russia's border controls have also become very strict. This situation has been ongoing for 2-3 months.

Moreover, recent news reports reveal a significant increase in the number of e-cigarette seizures at the border of Kazakhstan. The specific details of the report are as follows, "Kazakhstan Customs Seizes Counterfeit E-Cigarettes Worth 100 Million RMB Kazakhstan customs officials have recently confiscated counterfeit e-cigarette products with a total value of 100 million Chinese yuan. The seized items were branded with logos such as HQD and INFLAVE. In a separate operation, Kazakhstan authorities also seized illicit tobacco products worth 30 million tenge, consisting of nearly 50,000 illegally smuggled e-cigarettes. These products have since been destroyed. Furthermore, the Kazakhstani authorities discovered over 55,000 illegal e-cigarettes with an estimated value exceeding 80 million tenge."