A video of a worker urinating on raw materials at a Tsingtao Beer plant in China has raised questions about whether the video will make a change in the imported beer market in Korea.
“Korea is highly concerned about food hygiene and has some anti-China sentiments, so the video is bound to give the negative image of Tsingtao Beer to Korean consumers,” an official of the Korean liquor industry said on Oct. 23.
“It is likely that many younger people will see the video on social media, but Tsingtao Beer’s main customer base is older people,” he said. “It remains to be seen if Tsingtao Beer’s sales ranking itself will change.”
“The negative image of Tsingtao Beer will spread among Korean consumers,” said another official. “But we’ll have to see if it leads to a negative perception of Chinese beers as a whole and a drop of imports of Chinese beers like a Japanese product boycott in Korea in the past.”
“Given Korean people’s strong distrust in food hygiene in China, I think Korean consumers will believe that the video shows food hygiene problems not only at the Tsingtao Beer plant but other food plants in China,” said some other officials, “It is inevitable that a negative image will be created for Chinese beer in general due to the video.”
In fact, the video sent Tsingtao Beer sales plummeting at convenience stores over the weekend, and some consumers are boycotting Tsingtao Beer and other Chinese-made food products.
According to Statistics Korea, as of October this year, China is the second-highest beer importer to Korea with US$27.28 million. The top beer exporter is Japan, with US$35.96 million.