KT&G Releases 2020 Financial Results
KT&G posted record results in 2020 thanks to significant growth in global markets. On February 4, the South Korean company announced operating profit of KRW 1.17 trillion (US$1.05 billion) and sales of KRW 5.3 trillion, up 7.5% and 6.8% year on year, resp
Thanks to significant growth in global markets, KT&G posted record results in 2020. On February 4, the South Korean company announced operating profit of KRW 1.17 trillion (USD 1.05 billion) and sales of KRW 5.3 trillion, up 7.5% and 6.8% year-on-year, respectively.
KT&G attributed its performance to higher sales volumes in overseas markets. At the beginning of 2020, KT&G signed a seven-year contract worth KRW 2.2 trillion with overseas tobacco importers, expanding into the Middle East. The expansion of its distribution network also boosted sales in the United States.
Last year, KT&G entered 23 countries/regions, increasing the total number of its export markets to 103 countries/regions. Through its partnership with Philip Morris International, the company also began exporting FIIT heated tobacco sticks and the LIL device to Russia and Japan.
Driven by booming overseas markets, the company recorded annual sales of more than 100 million in five countries, including Cameroon, Israel, and Guatemala. In the global market alone last year, it sold 48 billion cigarettes worth KRW 986.2 billion.
In 2020, domestic cigarette sales rose 2.5% to 41.6 billion sticks, which KT&G attributed in part to pandemic-related restrictions on overseas travel. In 2020, South Korea’s heated tobacco market remained stable.
