"Boycott Movement Is Old News" Japanese Beer Imports Up 238%... Regains Top Importer Position

Imported 36,573t from January to August
More than triple compared to the same period last year
Accounts for 22% of the total

This year, South Korea's imports of Japanese beer have more than tripled compared to the previous year, reclaiming the top spot as the largest importer of Japanese beer.

According to trade statistics from the Korea Customs Service on the 2nd, from January to August this year, the import volume of Japanese beer reached 36,573 tons, an increase of 238.4% compared to the same period last year. Japanese beer accounted for 21.9% of the total beer imports, ranking first.

Japan was the top country exporting beer to South Korea until July 2019, before it implemented export restrictions against South Korea. In 2018, the import volume of Japanese beer was 86,676 tons, making up 24.2% of total beer imports and ranking first. After that, the volume decreased to 47,331 tons in 2019, placing third behind Belgium (59,072 tons) and China (58,233 tons), and fell to 10th place in 2020. This was influenced by the domestic boycott movement against Japanese products (No Japan) following Japan's export restrictions.

Then, in 2021, the import ranking rose one notch to 9th place, and as the boycott gradually weakened, Japanese beers such as Asahi, Sapporo, and Kirin regained their presence in large supermarkets and convenience stores. Last year, the import volume of Japanese beer jumped to 3rd place, and this year it reclaimed the top position.

Citizens are selecting beer at a large supermarket in downtown Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

Meanwhile, looking at beer import volumes by country this year, after Japan, the order was China (32,153 tons), the Netherlands (29,243 tons), Poland (11,291 tons), Germany (9,911 tons), the United States (9,876 tons), the Czech Republic (8,850 tons), and Ireland (8,705 tons).