South Korea: Traditional Cigarettes Increasingly Replaced By E-cigarettes

Source from:  The Korea Bizwire 08/01/2019

The popularity of traditional cigarettes is waning, as e-cigarettes have seen a significant boost in sales this year.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance reported that cigarette sales reached 1.67 billion packs between January and June this year, which was a 0.6 percent decrease from last year.

Among them, traditional cigarettes recorded sales of 1.47 billion packs, which was a 3.6 percent decrease since last year. Compared with 2014, before the price hike in cigarettes, sales have decreased by 27.6 percent.

E-cigarettes, including IQOS and lil, recorded sales of 190 million packs, increasing by 24.2 percent since last year.

The sales share of traditional cigarettes as a function of total cigarette sales has shrunk by 2.7 percentage points (to 88 percent), while e-cigarettes have expanded by 2.3 percentage points to 11.6 percent.

Closed System Vaporizer (CSV) liquefied e-cigarettes recorded 0.4 percent. “Traditional cigarettes are being replaced by e-cigarettes,” said a ministry official.  Enditem