British American Tobacco's Synthetic Nicotine E-cigarettes Face Obstacles in South Korea, With Convenience Stores Refusing To Sell Them Or Causing Plans To Be Shelved

British American Tobacco's synthetic nicotine e-cigarettes face obstacles in South Korea, with convenience stores refusing to sell them or causing plans to be shelved

British American Tobacco (BAT)'s plan to launch synthetic nicotine e-cigarettes in South Korea has been blocked, with the convenience store industry and distributors refusing to sell them due to a lack of legal basis and concerns about product safety. BAT's move is said to be aimed at promoting regulatory legislation and may sign direct supply contracts with small stores in the future, but its market share in South Korea has declined.

According to Hankyung's report on November 3rd, British American Tobacco (BAT) plans to launch e-cigarettes using synthetic nicotine in South Korea this month, but the plan has encountered obstacles. The reason is that the convenience store industry and large electronic cigarette distributors have stated a lack of legal basis for synthetic nicotine tobacco, and therefore refuse to sell this product.

According to tobacco industry insiders, BAT Korea recently proposed to the convenience store industry and large e-cigarette distributors to launch the synthetic nicotine e-cigarette "Nomad", but was rejected. A representative of a convenience store company stated that selling this product will face difficulties due to the lack of legal basis and security verification.

In April, the company submitted a trademark application for "Nomad" through its subsidiary Nico Ventures Holdings, officially planning to launch synthetic nicotine e-cigarettes. This will be the first appearance of synthetic nicotine tobacco products in South Korea, while other large cigarette manufacturers such as KT&G, PMI, and JTI have not considered releasing such products globally.

It is estimated that about 90% of electronic cigarettes sold in South Korea contain synthetic nicotine, mostly produced in China. According to South Korean customs statistics, the import volume of synthetic nicotine from January to September this year has reached 316 tons, far exceeding the 216 tons for the whole of last year.

At present, the current tobacco management laws in South Korea have not included it in regulation, and it has not been subject to tobacco consumption tax, nor has it been subject to advertising bans and harmful warning signs management. This makes synthetic nicotine e-cigarettes easily available for purchase through the internet and unmanned retail points, and is considered one of the main causes of adolescent smoking problems.

Industry insiders say that as the convenience store industry and major distributors refuse to sell, the launch of BAT's "Nomad" may be cancelled. An industry insider said, "We have no choice but to sign direct supply contracts with small e-cigarette stores that do not deal with large distributors, but if this happens, sales will be extremely low

Furthermore, it is estimated that BAT's market share in the Korean e-cigarette market is unlikely to rebound. According to industry data, from January to October this year, BAT's market share in the convenience store and retail markets in South Korea was 11.03%, lower than last year's 11.46%.

Some people in the industry are skeptical about whether BAT really intends to launch synthetic nicotine e-cigarettes. A representative of a large tobacco company stated that some believe that BAT may want to push for regulatory legislation by announcing the "Nomad" plan, as once synthetic nicotine is regulated, more consumers may turn to BAT's "Vuse Go" e-cigarettes despite facing sales difficulties.