NEWS
JAPANESE BEERS REGAINED POPULARITY IN S. KOREA AFTER YEARS OF BOYCOTT
By Susan Lewis
30-1-2024
Credit: Kwon Youn/Unsplash
Japanese beers regained its position as the most popular foreign beers in South Korea last year after suffering four years of boycott by South Korean consumers, data from Korea Customs Service showed.
South Korea imported USD55.5 million worth of Japanese beers in 2023, up sharply from USD14.5m in 2022 and a mere USD6.9m in 2021 and USD5.7m in 2020 at the height of the boycott.
Take for example leading Japanese beer brand Kirin, exports of its mainstay Kirin Ichiban to South Korea were up 245 percent in 2023 compared to 2022. When compared to the lows seen in 2020, they were up a whopping 1,286 percent.
Before the pandemic in 2018, Japanese beer exports to South Korea had risen to a high of USD78.3m, but began to fall out of favour in 2019 as Tokyo and Seoul became embroiled in a major diplomatic row over the two nations' shared history.
The row led to boycotts of Japanese goods by South Korean consumers, beer exports slipped to USD39.7m in 2019 and continued to slump to just USD5.7m in 2020.
At the height of the row, South Koreans boycotted all Japanese brands, from food and drinks to cars and clothings.
The renewed popularity of Japanese beers in South Korea has been a blessing for Japanese brewers facing ever declining domestic demands.
A shrinking population, an increasing number of elderly people and a wider variety of alcoholic beverages in the market are to blame for falling consumption, along with greater health awareness among young people.
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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