15. September 2024
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The e-cigarette business is picking up. Retailers and manufacturers made an estimated turnover of just over 1 billion euros with the electronic devices and associated liquids in Germany last year, around 25 percent more than in 2022, according to the Alliance for Tobacco-Free Enjoyment (BfTG) in Dortmund.
With electronic cigarettes – also known as vapes or e-shishas – liquids are heated and the vapor is inhaled. Compared to traditional tobacco cigarettes, fewer harmful substances are released. However, “vapes” also pose health risks – doctors advise smokers to quit completely instead of seeing e-cigarettes as the lesser evil and thus continuing to inhale harmful substances.
E-cigarettes were a niche market for a long time, but they are now a mass business. According to the BfTG, sales increased by 40 percent in 2022 and 2023. The industry mouthpiece got its figures from member companies and from its own analyses. Now the growth has slowed somewhat to 25 percent, but it remains at a high level.
BfTG boss Dustin Dahlmann attributes the growth to the fact that the number of sales points has increased. “More and more points of sale outside of specialist retailers, such as petrol stations, supermarkets and kiosks, are now offering e-cigarettes and liquids,” he says. “That’s why there is more attention to the products and many smokers are switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes.” According to the BfTG, around 3 million people in Germany use e-cigarettes, 0.5 million more than a year ago.
Empty e-cigarettes often end up in the residual waste, but should be disposed of as electrical devices
Disposable e-cigarettes, which are thrown away when their battery is empty, are controversial. They should actually be disposed of as electrical devices, but in reality they often end up in the residual waste or in the yellow bin, as representatives of the waste industry complain. This then poses a risk of fires in garbage trucks and disposal facilities if a short circuit occurs in the electrical devices and other waste lying next to them ignites. Environmentalists are also critical of the disposable products, as they ultimately waste raw materials.
According to the BfTG, the share of these disposable products in the overall e-cigarette market has fallen in recent years. While it was 40 percent in 2022, it was 30 percent in 2023. This year it is estimated to be only 20 percent. Industry representative Dahlmann expects the share of disposable products to continue to fall in the coming year. An EU ban on such products will come into force in 2027.
In addition to disposable products, there are also reusable vapes, where the liquid cartridges (pods) are exchanged, and classic e-cigarettes, where users buy the liquids in small bottles or mix them themselves – the battery in these two products is rechargeable.
Industry representatives are worried about the upcoming tax increase: at the beginning of next year, 26 cents of tobacco tax will be due on one milliliter of liquid, 6 cents more than before. For the usual 10-milliliter liquids, which currently cost roughly 8 to 10 euros, the tax burden will increase to just under 1 euro, according to the BfTG.
Many e-cigarette companies fear that the tax-related price increase will lead to an increase in the black market. It is already strong; according to the companies’ estimates, German citizens spend around 300 million euros on liquids and illegal e-cigarettes on the black market in Germany every year. “These products come from dubious sources, the quality is extremely questionable,” says Dahlmann. “For our legal dealers and manufacturers, this leads to a loss of sales, which is painful.”
Despite the efforts of the authorities, the black market has hardly been contained because there is a lack of sufficient human and structural resources, complains Dahlmann. “Politicians are failing to take effective countermeasures here.”
