SEOUL: South Korea’s beer imports soared nearly 24 percent in the first seven months of this year, customs data showed Wednesday, amid their growing popularity among local drinkers.
The value of beer imports reached US$77.6 million in the January-July period, up 23.7 percent from $62.7 million a year earlier, according to the data by the Korea Customs Service (KCS). In volume terms, beer imports came to 93.1 million liters in the seven-month period, compared with 65.2 million liters a year earlier.
The KCS attributed the increase to greater domestic demand for more diverse types of beer from across the world. At the current pace, beer imports are expected to top the $100 million mark for the second year in a row, it said.
By country, Japan was the No. 1 exporter of beer to South Korea in the seven-month period, followed by Germany, Ireland, China and the Netherlands. During the cited period, South Korean beer exports stood at $46.3 million, up from $41.2 million tallied the year before.
Hong Kong and China were the largest export markets, followed by Iraq, Singapore and the United States. The customs data, meanwhile, showed beer imports rising an average of 23.2 percent annually from 2012 to 2014. Exports during the same period gained 3.9 percent.
