Last Year, Coffee Import Value Surpassed 1 Trillion Won for the First Time Ever

Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] Last year, coffee import value surpassed 1 trillion won for the first time in history.

According to the Korea Customs Service and the food industry on the 21st, last year's coffee import value was recorded at $916.48 million, a 24.2% increase from the previous year, marking an all-time high. Considering the average exchange rate of 1,144.42 won per dollar last year, this amounts to approximately 1.0488 trillion won.

The import value in 2020 was $737.8 million, which, when applying that year's average exchange rate, was about 870 billion won.

The coffee import value includes all coffee products regardless of whether they are roasted or decaffeinated, as well as coffee husks and coffee substitutes containing coffee.

Coffee import value has steadily increased over time. Last year's import value was 12.7 times larger than that of 2001, which was $72.25 million.

Looking at last year's coffee import value by country, Switzerland was the highest at $130.12 million, followed by Colombia ($128.15 million), Brazil ($115.68 million), the United States ($112.17 million), Ethiopia ($75.65 million), and Vietnam ($62.28 million).

Last year's coffee import volume was also a record high at 189,502 tons, a 7.3% increase from the previous year.

Brazil ranked first in import volume with 39,884 tons, followed by Vietnam (36,469 tons), Colombia (30,040 tons), Ethiopia (16,667 tons), the United States (10,655 tons), Honduras (10,295 tons), and Peru (7,233 tons).

The steady increase in coffee imports in South Korea is interpreted as coffee becoming more than just a simple preference food, but a part of cultural life. This can be seen in the increasing number of coffee beverage shops. According to the National Tax Service's statistics on the top 100 lifestyle industries, as of December last year, there were 83,363 coffee beverage shops, an 88.2% increase compared to 44,305 shops in December 2017, four years earlier.