'2021 First Half Tobacco Market Trends'
Electronic Cigarette Sales Increase by 16.2%
[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Cigarette sales in the first half of this year increased by 0.7% compared to last year.
According to the "2021 First Half Cigarette Market Trends" announced by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the 30th, cigarette sales in the first half of this year amounted to 1.75 billion packs, a 0.7% increase from 1.74 billion packs in the first half of the previous year. However, compared to 2.04 billion packs in the first half of 2014 before the cigarette price hike, sales decreased by 14.1%, indicating that smoking cessation policies such as cigarette tax increases are maintaining their effectiveness, the Ministry stated.
By type, combustible cigarettes (cigarettes rolled with tobacco leaves in paper) sold 1.54 billion packs, a 1% decrease compared to the first half of last year. Heated tobacco products sold 210 million packs, a 16.2% increase from 180 million packs in the same period last year.
Closed-system vaporizer (CSV) electronic cigarettes, which contain nicotine and other substances in sealed pods, sold 3.5 million pods, effectively halting sales. This reflects the continued impact of the 2019 recommendation to stop using liquid electronic cigarettes due to severe lung injury and death cases.
Heated tobacco products that pass vaporized liquid through tobacco solids sold 36,000 packs. Currently, only existing inventory is being sold.
The tax burden from cigarettes in the first half amounted to 5.5 trillion won, a 1.8% decrease compared to the first half of last year.
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