()
New data from the Korea Customs Service and the liquor industry showed South Korea’s imports of Japanese beer spiked in January from a year earlier due to stepped-up marketing activities amid a weaker local boycott of goods from Japan.
According to trade statistics from the Korea Customs Service, Korea’s imports of Japanese beer in January of this year amounted to just over $2 million dollars, a 314.9% increase from the same month last year. This is the highest amount in 3 years and 6 months since July 2019 ($4.342 million).
On a monthly basis, Japanese beer imports plummeted from $4.3 million in July 2019 to $223,000 in August of the same year and fell to $6,000 in September after a boycott of Japanese beer, clothing, and automobiles began in Korea.
Japanese beers such as Asahi, Sapporo, and Kirin virtually disappeared from large supermarkets and convenience store shelves. However, as the boycott movement weakened, Japanese beer imports ($1.53 million) in March last year recovered to the $1 million level for the first time since the export control crisis.
In addition, from May to December of last year, it exceeded the $1 million mark for eight consecutive months. Since then, it has surpassed the $2 million mark in January of this year.
The annual amount of Japanese beer imports reached $14,484,000 last year which is an increase of 110.7% compared to the previous year.
It fell from $78.3 million in 2018 to $39.756 million and $5.668 million in 2019 and 2020, respectively, and slightly increased to $6.875 million in 2021, before crossing the $14 million mark last year.
Japanese beer accounted for 25.3% of total beer imports in 2018 but fell to 14.2% in 2019 and 2.5% in 2020.
It was only 3.1% in 2021 before recovering to 7.4% last year.
