E-cigarettes in South Africa
This section holds all of our site content that covers South Africa, including all news briefings, our full-length market and regulatory reports for the country and our extensive regulatory and market trackers. It offers easy access to all information and analysis that relates specifically to South Africa.
Business briefing
Industry news and updates with a focus on companies and businesses in the sector
Regulatory briefing
Global legal and regulatory news and updates from the vape industry
Market reports
Detailed full-length reports including data and analysis of numerous vaping markets around the world
Market report: market expansion continues in South Africa
5th November 2020
Regulatory reports
Thorough reports providing legal and regulatory analysis of different countries and sections of the e-cigarette industry
Regulatory report: South Africa
16th February 2021
Pricing trackers
Online e-cig pricing guides for numerous markets around the world, updated twice a year and provided in database format
Online e-cig pricing: South Africa Q1 2021
20th April 2021
Regulatory trackers
Up-to-date information about current regulations around the world, presented in user-friendly maps and Excel spreadsheets
Brands trackers
Our online price benchmarking project, analysing multi-brand retail websites in selected vape markets
Flavour & nicotine trackers
Analytical insights of the most significant vaping flavours and nicotine strengths
Databases
User-friendly databases with key global analysis, statistics, directories and more
Key global e-cigarette markets database: June 2021
4th June 2021
Charts and infographics
A brief highlight of what can be found in our full-length e-cigarette market reports
Introduction to the e-cigarette market in South Africa
South Africa is the largest steadily-growing e-cigarette market in Africa. The nicotine-containing e-cig market in South Africa is regulated through the South African Medicine Control Council.
According to the law, retailers do not have the right to sell electronic cigarettes without a permit. Additionally, e-cigarettes containing nicotine are not authorised to be sold outside pharmacies and can only be purchased with a doctor’s prescription.
A bill is currently with parliament that aims to legalise e-cigarettes with nicotine. E-cigs without nicotine are currently unregulated and are therefore unrestricted.
Illegal tobacco counts for almost 50% of the total South African tobacco market, which makes the country one of the top worldwide for the counterfeit cigarette trade. With this in mind, despite the tough regulation, electronic cigarettes are available all over the country.
The diversity of electronic devices has increased through the years.
