Sales of cigarettes in South Korea moved down 0.6 percent on-year in the January-June period, data showed.

South Korean smokers purchased 1.77 billion 20-cigarette packs in the first half, falling from 17.8 billion packs posted a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Heat-not-burn tobacco products took up 16.5 percent of the market, advancing from 14.8 percent posted for all of 2022.

Meanwhile, the government collected 5.7 trillion won ($4.4 billion) in taxes from cigarette sales in the first half, down 0.4 percent from the previous year. (Yonhap)