Vape Maker Juul Announces Exit from South Korea
According to Tobacco Reporter, Juul Labs said today that it will end its business in South Korea one year after entering the market. The company said it was unable to gain market share following government health warnings. In a statement, Juul Labs said i
According to Tobacco Industry News, Juul Labs announced today that it will terminate its business in South Korea after one year of entering the market. The company stated that the reason is that it could not gain market share under the government's health warnings.
Juul Labs stated in a statement that it has been working through a restructuring process since the beginning of this year, aiming to establish a viable business in South Korea by significantly reducing costs and modifying its products.
The statement said, however, that these innovations would not deliver as expected. Therefore, we intend to cease operations in South Korea.
According to Reuters, in October last year, the South Korean Ministry of Health advised people to stop using e-cigarettes due to growing health concerns, especially after a 30-year-old e-cigarette user was reported to have pneumonia that month.
This news prompted convenience store chains and duty-free shops to suspend sales of flavored e-cigarettes produced by Juul Labs.
According to Reuters, the South Korean health department stated last December that they found vitamin E acetate in certain flavored e-cigarette products produced by Juul Labs, which may be related to lung diseases, but the company denied using this material.
The statement said that Juul Labs launched a product line specifically developed for the South Korean market in May 2019, but we did not meet expectations in transitioning South Korean adult smokers from combustible cigarettes successfully. We have studied this process and are committed to innovating our product line.
It is reported that Juul Labs is also preparing to exit a few EU markets, claiming that the regulatory environment has become overly hostile to the device.
According to BuzzFeed News, Juul will soon withdraw its products from shelves in Austria, Belgium, Portugal, France, and Spain.
This news agency reported that the EU strictly requires that the nicotine content in e-cigarettes must not exceed 20 mg, making it difficult for Juul to operate in those countries.
Austria, Belgium, and Portugal are very small markets for Juul, but leading e-cigarette manufacturers generate considerable sales in France and Spain. It will exit France by the end of this year and will withdraw from other countries in July, narrowing its global market presence to a small range including Germany, Italy, Russia, and the UK.
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