Japan FY2020 cigarette sales dive on shift to vaping amid a pandemic

Cigarette sales in Japan during fiscal 2020 plummeted by 16.3 percent on-year to 98.8 billion sticks, dropping below 100 billion for the first time in decades, according to the Tobacco Institute of Japan.

The figure is a 70 percent drop from fiscal 1996 when cigarette sales peaked at 348.3 billion sticks.

Smoking rates have been on the decline in Japan partly due to health concerns.

In 2019, there were 27.1 percent of men and 7.6 percent of women who regularly smoked, down from 29.0 percent and 8.1 percent from the year before.

Heated tobacco, meanwhile, has become popular among the younger Japanese since around 2016.

Sales of such heated tobacco products in fiscal 2020 came to 41.3 billion sticks in Japan, equivalent to some 40 percent of rolled cigarette sales.

An industry official pointed out that due to the pandemic, more people smoke at home and have turned to heat-not-burn cigarettes to avoid polluting their homes with smoke.

A revised health promotion law also went into effect in April last year banning people from smoking indoors including in government buildings, workplaces, restaurants, and hotel lobbies.

Due to stricter rules against smoking, cigarette manufacturers are focusing on heated cigarettes.

The Japanese arm of Philip Morris International Inc said it is considering a stop on selling rolled cigarettes in Japan in 10 to 15 years.

Japan Tobacco Inc. is launching its heated cigarette product this summer.