Rising popularity of iQOS in Japan has allowed the heat-not-burn product from Philip Morris International to take nearly 5 per cent of the market for traditional cigarettes, said PMI Chief Financial Officer Jacek Olczak.

Sales of the Marlboro HeatSticks that are inserted into the device rose 0.6 percentage points to 4.9 per cent in the four-week period from late September to the end of October, Olczak said in a presentation to investors. “We continue to grow HeatSticks market share in Japan, despite the limits we have placed on iQOS device sales, he said.
“While the success of iQOS in Japan understandably receives the most attention, we are very pleased by the performance of iQOS in all launch markets,” he said. “HeatSticks offtake volume is growing in every market where iQOS has been present since the beginning of 2016, with notable accelerations since September in Italy, Portugal and Russia.”