"Sold Overseas Worth 290 Billion Won"... Soju Exports Bloom Amid K-Content Popularity

Export Volume Reaches 124,000 Tons
Fruit Soju Drives the Boom

Last year, Korean soju exports reached $200 million annually for the first time in history. It appears that global interest in K-content has extended to Korean alcoholic beverages.

Last year, soju export revenue surpassed 200 million dollars annually. Photo by Yonhap News

On the 15th, the Korea Customs Service announced that last year’s soju exports, including regular and fruit soju, increased by 3.9% from the previous year, reaching $200 million. Korean soju exports had stagnated for a while but surged sharply starting in 2020. After $135 million in 2020, exports increased by 1.5 times over four years.

Last year’s export volume also hit a record high. A total of 124,000 tons were sold overseas, up 4.2% from the previous year. This is equivalent to about 340 million bottles based on 360ml soju bottles. If laid end to end, the bottles would stretch approximately 70,000 km, enough to circle the Earth’s circumference one and a half times (1.8 times).

By product category, regular soju accounted for 51.9%, slightly more than mixed drinks such as fruit soju (48.1%). Recently, fruit soju exports have surged, nearly reversing this ratio.

The number of countries seeking soju has also clearly increased. In 2010, 82.7% of Korean soju exports went to Japan, but due to a rapid increase in demand from the United States and China, the U.S. became the largest market starting in 2023. The number of export destination countries also rose from just 60 in 2010 to 95 last year. By country export share, the order is the U.S. (24.3%), China (19.9%), and Japan (19.2%). Fruit soju was mainly popular in Japan, while regular soju was favored in China. Exports to 46 countries, including the U.S. and China, all reached record highs.

The dominant analysis is that the global trend of mild alcoholic beverages with various fruit flavors has led to the popularity of Korea’s high-quality soju. The growing love for Korean popular culture and cuisine has also increased interest in drinking culture, including soju.

This positive trend continues this year as well. From January to February, exports totaled $2.4 billion, a 0.5% increase over last year’s record high.