Beer imports hit all-time high

Beer imports to Korea hit a record high in 2015, with a growing number of Korean consumers turning to low alcohol beverages and seeking diversity, data showed Wednesday.

According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation, Korea imported 170,919 tons of beer worth $141.9 million last year, a 43 percent increase in volume and a 27 percent increase in value of beer imports from the previous year.

The most popular imported beer was from Japan, which exported 46,244 tons to Korea in 2015, over a quarter of all beer imports.

Japan was followed by Germany, which exported 24,874 tons to Korea.

The Netherlands, which has had a strong hold on the Korean imported beer market with popular brands such as Heineken, was unseated from its third-place slot by China in 2015.

Last year saw a 70.6 percent increase in the volume of imported beer from China, bringing the total to 19,604 tons.

According to a report released by aT in December last year, beer was the fastest-growing import market among alcoholic drinks in the past five years.

Changing drinking trends among Korean consumers have led to higher consumption of drinks with low alcohol content such as beer. Imported beer, it said, was seeing a rise thanks to a combination of changing consumer preferences and lower prices due to free trade agreements.

Imported beer now takes up nearly 40 percent of all beer sales at major distributors such as E-mart and Lotte Mart.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)