E-Cigarette Market to Reach $50 Billion by 2030, Analysts Predict
The latest data released by Euromonitor shows that the e-cigarette market has reached the $6 billion mark, and analysts predict that if legislation remains as is, the vaping sector could grow to $50 Billion by 2030.
Despite reports of e-cigarette sales declining last year, official Euromonitor data shows that the market is still growing at a very fast pace. Globally, sales of vaping devices grew by 59% to a record $6.1 Billion, as business in the world’s largest market, the United States, doubled to a total of $2.8 billion. The UK became the second largest market for electronic cigarettes, followed by Italy, Poland and France. Euromonitor International forecasts that the e-cigarette sector will grow 29.3% compound annual growth rate to reach $23.4 billion in 2019 and $50 billion by 2030, IF legislation remains as is.
“The outstanding predictions for vapor’s future could easily vanish if legislation moves forward with tobacco-level taxation, demands for child-proofing or public vaping bans,” said Zora Milenkovic, head of tobacco research at Euromonitor International. Italy, formerly the world’s second largest e-cig market is a clear example of how excessive taxation and regulation can easily destroy a booming market and help the tobacco industry recover.
These latest statistics also show that while nicotine replacement therapy products are stalling at around $2.4 billion globally, sales of vaping products have grown by nearly 70% since their introduction to the market, in 2005. The Telegraph reports that in the UK, NRT sales are actually on the decline for the first time since 2008, a sign that British consumers are turning to e-cigarettes to quit smoking.
Shane MacGuill, senior tobacco analyst at Euromonitor, was ‘hesitant’ to conclude that consumers worldwide are increasingly using e-cigs over other means of smoking cessation in order to kick the habit, but did say that the trend in bigger markets such as the UK “does look a lot like correlation and perhaps even causation”.
Although cigarette sales in the UK alone still dwarf those of electronic cigarettes by more than 30 times, MacGuill believes the rapid growth of the vaping sector should definitely worry Big Tobacco. “Up until now there has been no direct competition for cigarettes in a meaningful sense, and nicotine replacement therapies were certainly not providing that,” he said. “The days of the traditional cigarette are numbered – the only question is how long that process will take – and e-cigarettes have the potential to drastically shorten the shelf life of traditional tobacco products.”
Cigarette companies have already started taking precautions in that regard, either launching their own proprietary e-cigarettes, or acquiring established e-cig brands.
