German E-cigarette Exports Rebound!

On October 16, according to updated trade data from China’s General Administration of Customs, China’s e-cigarette exports to Germany in August 2023 totaled US$80,236,170 (approximately RMB 587 million), up 15.67% month-on-month and 37.60% year-on-year. Export volume reached 1,002,589 kilograms, up 2.38% month-on-month. The average export price was US$80.03 per kilogram (approximately RMB 585.20 per kilogram), up 12.98% month-on-month. By comparison, August export volume of e-cigarettes to Germany was higher than July’s 979 tons. However, Germany’s export value was still lower than that of the UK, which imported US$103 million (approximately RMB 752 million) worth of e-cigarettes from China in July, with an export volume of 2,613,381 kilograms. It was also lower than exports to the United States, which reached US$252 million (approximately RMB 1.843 billion) with an export volume of 5,824,894 kilograms.

According to customs data, about 1,000 tons of vapor products are exported to Germany each month, representing a market size of nearly RMB 600 million. From this, it appears that Germany’s overall imports of vapor products from China have rebounded this year. Looking at Germany’s data for this year, February and April were relatively weak, while May and June were peak months, and exports recovered again in August. At the same time, current export volumes of China’s vapor products show that the United States receives more than 5,000 tons per month, the UK more than 2,000 tons, and Germany just over 1,000 tons. These figures roughly indicate the size of each country’s vapor market. Generally speaking, there are two customs codes for vapor product exports: 24041200 and 85434000. Code 85434000 refers to vape rods or devices, such as hardware-only shipments in the past; 24041200 likely refers to disposable vapor products plus pods.