South Korea Tobacco KT&G Maintains First Place in Heat-not-burn Market, Promises Innovation To Meet 15% Annual Growth Forecast For E-cigarettes

South Korea Tobacco KT&G maintains first place in heat-not-burn market, promises innovation to meet 15% annual growth forecast for e-cigarettes

Korea Tobacco KT&G occupies a leading position in the heat-not-burn e-cigarette market with its "Lil" series, and plans to meet the e-cigarette market's expected average annual growth of 15% through technological innovation and global expansion.

According to N.News report on September 10, according to relevant industry news, South Korea Tobacco KT&G, relying on the widespread popularity of its "Lil" series, occupied 45.8% of the heat-not-burn e-cigarette market from the second to the fourth quarter. share and maintained the number one position in the market for 10 consecutive quarters.

KT&G said,

"Lil HYBRID 1.0, launched in 2018, is an industry first and achieves a rich and even amount of smoke through a unique combination of cartridges and e-liquid storage boxes. Lil HYBRID 2.0, launched 15 months after the release of Lil HYBRID 1.0, The smart switch function has greatly improved the convenience of use and has been widely praised. In addition, Lil HYBRID 3.0, launched in July last year, has significantly enhanced the user experience by adding three smoking modes and color display."

In addition, KT&G created a new mode of continuous use by launching the e-cigarette platform Lil SOLID, which adopts an M-shaped heating structure and can use three different dedicated cigarette cartridges of Lil AIBLE.

In order to ensure the competitiveness of its e-cigarette business, KT&G has applied for 4,374 NGP-related patents in the past three years, including a large number of foreign patent applications, which increased from 9 in 2017 to 1,621 in 2023, covering Europe Waiting places.

It is reported that KT&G is also accelerating the expansion of its global e-cigarette business. Since entering Russia, Japan and Ukraine in 2020, it has currently operated in 33 countries. KT&G's mid- to long-term goal is to enter more than 50 countries and plans to gradually establish overseas production bases. In October 2023, the company has started construction of a new factory in Kazakhstan covering an area of ​​approximately 200,000 square meters to create a Eurasian production and innovation center.

A spokesperson for KT&G said,

"With the active entry of global tobacco companies into the market and the increase in demand from smokers, the e-cigarette market is expected to continue to maintain a high growth rate of 15% per year. In the future core e-cigarette market of the tobacco industry, KT&G will continue to improve the platform and enhance scientific R&D capabilities and mastery of basic technologies to maintain steady growth momentum."