Vapouround magazine ISSUE 17 | Page 22

NEWS E-CIGARETTE MARKET MAY SOON HIT A PLATEAU With smoking rates falling, some financial experts predict growing pains for vaping By Leo Forfar A report in the Financial Times in March suggested that “the rate of growth in UK vaping numbers is slowing” and that the “UK is [the] second biggest e-cigarette market but not everyone is convinced growth can last.” pace in economic powerhouses which were once strongholds. Cancer Research UK measured smoking rates in 2015 as 17.2 percent (16.9 per cent in England), down from 20.1 percent only five years prior. When considered in conjunction with other recent developments in falling smoking rates, tighter tobacco control and ongoing e-cigarette regulation, a peak followed by slowdown is a distinct possibility. A similar report from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) measured US adult cigarette consumption at an all-time low: 15.5 percent as of 2016, that’s a 5.4 percent drop in eleven years. This trend has also been seen in Australia, with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 2014 finding that the smoking rate had fallen to below 13 percent for the first time. “After an initial surge, the rate of growth in UK vaping numbers is slowing: data from public health charity Action on Smoking and Health reports only 100,000 new vapers in 2017 compared with 800,000 in 2014 and the total number of UK e-cigarette users has plateaued since 2016.” Due to its main purpose as a tool for smoking cessation, analysis of the e-cigarette market is inseparable from the The World Health Organisation’s global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco smoking (published in 2015) contains the most accurate overview we have on tobacco consumption from now until 2025, as well as the most thorough survey of current rates in almost every country. It covers 90 percent of Smoking and Big Tobacco are taking big hits. Smoking rates are already at a record low and are falling at an accelerated No ethical vape company would sell or market to anyone who tobacco market and the nicotine product market as a whole. With this in mind, it’s natural that only so much growth can be expected for vapour products, as smokers are the default starter demographic for the vaping industry. 22 | VM17 the global population. The exhaustive report predicts the global smoking rate to fall from 22.1 percent down to 18.9 percent – a relative reduction rate of 14 percent. The report came off the heels of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) which was started in 2005.