Korea Sees 16% of Cigarette Sales Being Heated Tobacco Sticks

Industry Insight by Ashe Wong
Jul.31.2023
Korea Sees 16% of Cigarette Sales Being Heated Tobacco Sticks
In the first half of 2023, South Korea saw a marginal decline in overall cigarette sales, while the market share for Heat-Not-Burn (HNB) products increased to over 16%.

According to the '2023 First Half Tobacco Market Trends' report released by the Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance on the 28th, the number of cigarettes sold in the first half of this year totaled 1.77 billion packs, a 0.6% decrease compared to the same period last year (1.78 billion packs).

 

Noteworthy is the market share of HNB cigarettes. The proportion of HNB cigarettes in the total cigarette sales volume in the first half of this year increased by 1.7 percentage points to 16.5% compared to last year (14.8%). This figure has almost octupled compared to six years ago in 2017 (2.2%). An official from the Ministry of Finance said, "The preference for HNB cigarettes continues to grow, and the proportion of sales of traditional cigarettes is decreasing."

 

The excise tax per pack of cigarettes was recorded at 5.7 trillion won (4 billion USD), a decrease of 0.4% from a year ago. The decline in cigarette sales volume in the first half of this year had an impact on this figure.

 

Reference: 

[1] 상반기 담배 17.7억갑 팔려…전자담배 비중 16.5%

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