Last Year, 3.63 Billion Cigarettes Sold... Increasing Trend Since COVID-19

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Junhyung] Last year, 3.63 billion packs of cigarettes were sold domestically. Cigarette sales have been on the rise since the spread of COVID-19.

According to the "2022 Tobacco Market Trends" announced by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the 31st, 3.63 billion packs of cigarettes were sold domestically last year, an increase of 1.1% compared to the previous year (3.59 billion packs). Compared to 2019, before the spread of COVID-19 (3.45 billion packs), it increased by 5.3%. Domestic cigarette sales also increased by 1.42% and 1.42% in 2020 and 2021 respectively compared to 2019.

Notably, the sales volume of heated tobacco products has been steadily increasing. Last year, sales of heated tobacco products reached 540 million packs, a 21.3% increase compared to the previous year (440 million packs). On the other hand, sales of conventional cigarettes decreased by 1.8%, from 3.15 billion packs to 3.09 billion packs. The market share of heated tobacco products increased from 10.6% in 2020, 12.4% in 2021, to 14.8% last year.

Tobacco tax revenue amounted to 11.8 trillion won, a 1.1% increase compared to the previous year (11.7 trillion won). This is the result of a 1.4% increase in tobacco shipments last year (3.61 billion packs) compared to one year earlier (3.56 billion packs).

Meanwhile, cigarette sales have been steadily declining since the cigarette price hike in 2014. Last year's cigarette sales decreased by 16.8% compared to 2014 (4.36 billion packs), before the price increase.