Securing Industry on 12th June carried an article about a new report that claims that illicit alcohol across some countries in Central and Latin America and Africa is more common than legal alcohol, with counterfeit liquor accounting for more than half of the illicit trade in some states. For example, 66% of the alcohol consumed in Mozambique is illicit, 61% in Uganda and 56% in Cameroon. In Latin America, counterfeit alcohol is more common than in Africa. The report by the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) brings together data on the illicit market in 26 countries compiled by the global market research firm Euromonitor International and calls for the unregulated alcohol market to be actively tackled and brought into the legal and regulated sphere. The report defines illicit alcohol as including contraband, smuggled, counterfeit & illegal, illegal artisanal & illegal informal (alcohol produced outside of a regulatory framework) and surrogate (alcohol-containing products not meant for human consumption), as well as that involving tax evasion. The report noted the role of large-scale organised crime in the production of counterfeit alcohol and the lack of sufficient enforcement and penalties to act as a deterrent.
The report itself is at –
http://www.iard.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Alcohol-in-the-Shadow-Economy.pdf
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