Premium Wine Imports Increase
Korea’s wine imports hit an all-time high in 2022. Although the amount of imports decreased somewhat, imports of high-priced products expanded, driving up the import value to a new high.
According to the Korea Customs Service’s trade statistics system on Jan. 18, Korea imported US$581.27 million (about 716.2 billion won) worth of wine (HS code 2204) in 2022, up 3.83 percent from the previous year. The amount of wine imports fell by 7.25 percent from 76,515 tonnes to 71,020 tonnes, but imports of premium wines increased.
Korea’s wine imports rose from US$260 million in 2019 to US$330 million in 2020 and crossed US$500 million in 2021.
By country, France was the largest exporter with US$130.3 million, followed by the United States (US$95.86 million), Italy (US$71.17 million), Chile (US$65.11 million), and Australia (US$29.67 million). Sparkling wine imports from France and Italy also ranked high. French sparkling wine imports stood at US$71.75 million and Italy US$14.35 million.
Imports of whiskey, a premium alcoholic beverage, were also on the uptick. In 2022, whiskey imports increased by more than 50 percent compared to the same period of 2021. In 2022, the amount of imported whiskey (HS code 220830) such as scotch, bourbon, and rye was US$266.81 million, up 52.1 percent from US$175.34 million in the same period of 2021. During the same period, whiskey imports rose by 72.6 percent from 15,661 tons to 27,038 tons.
The figure of whiskey imports rose to US$270.29 million in 2007, showed a downward trend after that. It fell to US$132.46 million in 2020, and then returned to rose again with a 32.4 percent increase in 2021.