KT&G is rising as the world’s fifth-largest tobacco maker as its overseas sales recorded 46.5 billion cigarettes last year, exceeding domestic sales of 40.6 billion cigarettes for the first time.

The firm’s super-slim and low-tar product Esse is recognized as a contributor to sprawling growth to the sales, according to KT&G officials.

In the 10 years that followed the company’s privatization in 2002, KT&G’s overseas sales saw a 15-fold jump. The overseas sales in 1999 stood at 2.6 billion cigarettes, then came to 40.7 billion cigarettes in 2012.

Holding a leadership position in the Middle East and Central Asia, where multiple global tobacco producers faced setbacks, paved the way for KT&G to “gear up overseas marketing,” an official said.

Starting with Turkey in 2008, the company expanded the manufacturing line in Iran and Russia to supply products at a fast pace. In 2011, the firm acquired the sixth-largest tobacco producer in Indonesia.

KT&G is now ratcheting up the business to broader markets from the US, Africa to Latin America and Asia-pacific region as nearly 40 percent of last year’s overseas profits were made in those markets, according to compiled data.

The firm’s marketing pitch was to promote varied super-slim, low-tar options to the markets rather than pushing one significant brand. Time was a fit for the US market while Esse appealed in Asia-Pacific regions.

KT&G’s results have held up better when the new market sales grew three times in recent five years. The US market saw nearly 40 percent up in sales last year. In Mongolia, Esse sales increased 120-fold in response to explosive popularity there. The company also found business gold in Africa when 2.8 billion cigarettes sold like hot cakes, thanks to the surge in demand for super-slim cigarettes there.

The company said it was “beefing up product quality to consolidate No. 1 tobacco maker position in potential overseas markets,” the company said in a statement.

By Song Ji-won (jiwon.song@heraldcorp.com)