E-Malt.com News article: South Korea & Japan: Imports of Japanese alcohol to South Korea on a swift road to recovery

In recent years, Japanese alcohol imports to Korea plummeted sharply due to the ‘No Japan’ boycott triggered by deteriorating relations between Korea and Japan, as well as the impact of Covid on the nation’s hospitality sector, The Drinks Business reported on May 18.

But new figures released by the Korea Customs Service on 18 May indicate that Japanese booze is on a swift road to recovery.

According to the export and trade statistics, imports of Japanese alcoholic beverages from January to March this year reached 29,445 tonnes, with a total value of 53.95969 billion won (£26.5 million). Compared to the same period last year, import volume rose by 16.7% and value by 20.9%. This figure is more than double the import value of Chinese alcoholic beverages which hit around £10.5m.

The boom of Japanese alcohol imports can be put down to the weak yen, Korea’s highball boom and growing demand for travel to Japan, with the volume of imports now outstripping the levels seen prior to the 2019 boycott of Japanese goods.

In the first quarter of 2019, the value of Japanese alcoholic beverage imports was 35.13207 billion won (£17.55m). However, it fell to 6.3491 billion won (£3.17m) in 2020 and remained low at 9.49508 billion won (£4.67m) in 2021.

But, in the first quarter of 2022, the value of Japanese alcoholic beverage imports climbed to 16,5389 billion won (£8.26m).

Since then, it has continued to increase, reaching 28.25874 billion won (£14.1m) in 2023, 43.85955 billion won (£21.9 million) in 2024, and 44.61907 billion won (£22.3m) last year. In just the first quarter of this year, imports reached 53.95969 billion won (£26.5m).

This marks an all-time high.

The main drivers behind the surge of Japanese alcohol in Korea include the popularity of Japanese-style dining culture, like omakase and izakaya, in the nation, with younger consumers also increasingly valuing premiumisation and craftsmanship when choosing what to drink.

By product category, Japanese beer accounted for the largest segment of import – reaching 30.78882 billion won (£15.15m) in the first quarter of this year – making up over half of imports. The category showed significant growth. Imports, which stood at 10.34071 billion won (£5.09m) in 2022, rose to 21.78698 billion won (£10.72m) in 2023, 83.53344 billion won (£41.08m) in 2024, and 101.4965 billion won (£49.91m) last year.

Sake came in second place with 21.% of imports at 1148359 billion won (£5.65m) in the first quarter of 2026, with whisky on its heels at 4.16348 billion won (£2.05m) at 7.7%.

Demand for sake and whisky has also significantly shot up. Sake imports rose from 28.59535 billion won (£14.05m) in 2022 to 41.8816 billion won (£20.6m) last year. During the same period, whisky imports grew from 624.09 million won (£307,000) to 15.88329 billion won (£7.81m). This can be largely explained by the highball craze which has swept through Korea – spelling good news for Japanese whisky producers.


18 May, 2026