Cigarette sales are recovering little by little and the boom in e-cigarettes has eased following massive price increases mandated by the government in January, Korea Bizwire said.

E-Mart, the country’s largest big-box retailer, said the decline in weekly sales was 57 per cent in the fourth week of new cigarette prices, following 64 per cent in the third week, 72 per cent in the second week and an 81 per cent drop in the first January week, the online journal said. Convenience stores also said the decline in cigarette sales rebounded from 42.1 per cent in the first week to 36 per cent in the final week of January.
Sales of electronic cigarettes rose by a factor of 22 in the first week, 33 in the second week, but declined to 23 and 28 in the next two weeks, according to G-Market data cited by Bizwire. The cigarette pack price rose to an average KRW 4,500 (EUR 3.60) from KRW 2,500 under the 2015 budget.