South Korea was the world’s No. 2 heat-not-burn tobacco market last year, and its growth will gather pace down the road, an industry tracker said on July 9.

The size of Korea’s HNB cigarette market reached $1.67 billion last year, rising sharply from $453 million tallied in 2017, according to the data compiled by Euromonitor International. The country’s overall tobacco market reached $15.6 billion last year.

While Korea’s tobacco market is anticipated to post limited growth through 2023, the industry tracker said the heat-and-burn tobacco market in the country is expected to grow a whopping 21 percent annually to reach $4.4 billion.

“In less than two years after the first release of heat-not-burn e-cigarettes in Korea, the country became the world’s second-largest player next to Japan,” Euromonitor International said in its report.

The country was able to post better-than-expected growth as Koreans are familiar with handling new devices and enthusiastic about high-end technologies, it added.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)