Last year, domestic cigarette sales decreased compared to the previous year. Domestic cigarette sales have shown a decline for two consecutive years.
According to the 'Cigarette market trends' report released by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the 18th, last year's domestic cigarette sales totaled 3.53 billion packs, a decrease of 2.2% from the previous year (3.61 billion packs). Domestic cigarette sales have declined for two consecutive years since recording 3.63 billion packs in 2022.
The actual cigarette sales, considering the sales of duty-free cigarettes, also decreased by 1.7% to 3.68 billion packs compared to the previous year.
The shift in smoking behavior from conventional cigarettes to electronic cigarettes has also become clearly evident.
Last year, the sales volume of conventional cigarettes was 2.87 billion packs, a decrease of 4.3% compared to the previous year. The sales of conventional cigarettes have been on the decline for four consecutive years since 2021.
In contrast, sales of heated tobacco products increased by 8.3% to 660 million packs compared to the previous year. The share of electronic cigarettes in total sales recorded 18.4% last year.
The market share of heated tobacco products has steadily increased from 2.2% in 2017 to 10.5% in 2019, 12.4% in 2021, 14.8% in 2022, 16.9% in 2023, and 18.4% in 2024.
The total taxes collected from cigarette sales last year amounted to 11.7 trillion won, maintaining the previous year's level.