China, the world's largest tobacco consumer, is aiming to ban indoor smoking in public areas by the end of the year. As more and more places become off limits to smoking, people find themselves using e-cigarettes more often.
E-cigarettes were invented about ten years ago by a Chinese medical researcher. China supplies almost all global demand. Puffing on the devices, or vaping, is surging worldwide, but it forms only a tiny part of China's 1.2 trillion yuan (about $200 billion) cigarette business.
Now, rising public awareness about the hazards of smoking, coupled with China's hardening stance on smoking in public, is opening up an opportunity for e-cigarettes to make inroads into the world's biggest tobacco market.
E-cigarettes are mostly sold online in China, where government regulation around the product is still lax. Countries like Singapore and Brazil currently ban e-cigarettes.
Some analysts predict e-cigarettes could outsell conventional cigarettes within a decade, particularly as Big Tobacco grapples with declining sales due to government regulation and health-aware consumers.
E-cigarette sales in the United States grew at 115 percent each year between 2009 and 2012, and could grow us much as 240 percent this year, according to experts. The global e-cigarette market could increase fivefold to $10 billion by 2017, according to some estimates.
