Cigarette sales in S. Korea slightly down in H1

▲ This undated file photo shows cigarette packs displayed at a store. (Yonhap)

cigarette sales-H1 tally

Cigarette sales in S. Korea slightly down in H1

SEOUL, July 28 (Yonhap) -- Sales of cigarettes in South Korea moved down 0.6 percent on-year in the January-June period, data showed Friday.

South Korean smokers purchased 1.77 billion 20-cigarette packs in the first half, falling from 17.8 billion packs posted a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Heat-not-burn tobacco products took up 16.5 percent of the market, advancing from 14.8 percent posted for all of 2022.

Meanwhile, the government collected 5.7 trillion won (US$4.4 billion) in taxes from cigarette sales in the first half, down 0.4 percent from the previous year.

As of 2021, the smoking rate among Korean men aged 19 or older had reached 31.3 percent, according to health authorities. The figure for all adults came to 19.3 percent.

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