South Korea's wine imports double last year as consumers turn to drinking at home
South Korea’s wine imports hit an all time high during 2020, surging by 110% as more consumers drank at home during the pandemic.
Sales more than doubled to reach $236.9m in the first half of the year, breaking the previous first half record, and accounting for 86% of 2020’s annual wine imports.
Red wine imports comprised the largest share of the market, with a value of $180.4m, while white wine imports amounted to $49.3m.
France was the main source of red wine, worth $43.1m, followed by the US and Chile. France was also the leader in terms of white wine sales, amounting to $13.4m, followed by Italy, New Zealand, Chile and Australia.
A recent report predicted that spending on total alcoholic drinks in South Korea is expected to grow by 8.3% during 2021, after rising by 2.3% last year. According to US credit rating agency Fitch Solutions, alcohol spending in the Asian nation will jump by $US1.4bn to $6.8bn this year, while there will be a slow down in off- trade sales growth between 2022 – 2025.
During this period, alcohol spending is predicted to grow by an annual average of 4.3%, returning to lowered but stable growth as the hospitality sector opens up again. Meanwhile, the report says that wine consumption from 2021 to 2025 will see an annual average increase of 3%, outpacing beer and spirits consumption of 1% and 1.2% respectively during the four years, but from a much lower consumption base.
Photography by SeongPhil Jang on Unsplash