Korea: Beer in PET bottles has become very popular in Korea just one month after its introduction, according to Oriental Brewery Company. Oriental Brewery has sold 2.4 million 1.6L bottles of its OB Q-pack since November 11, 2003, which represents an average of 17,000 cases of beer in the new packaging being sold per day. OB's Icheon brewery in Gyeonggi Province has struggled to meet the surging demand with a maximum of 25,000 boxes being produced per day. The demand has exceeded the company's expectations, especially considering it is the low-demand season. However, the Hite Pitcher (also plastics) from a competitor, Hite Brewery, which was put on sale a week after Oriental Brewery's product, has only sold 227,000 boxes since launch. This is attributed to difficulties the company had in obtaining bottle caps from a French company.

12 December, 2003