South Korea: Beer sales at Korea’s convenience stores changed by rise of local craft beer and boycott of Japanese products

The boycott of Japanese products, which began in South Korea in July 2019 with the Japanese government's export control, changed the sales of convenience stores' canned beer, the New Kerala reported on August 17.

Even now, two years after the boycott, the convenience store industry continues to see a decline in sales of Japanese beer, so orders are almost cut off.

Some industry believe that it is not because of the boycott, but because Korean domestic craft beer products, which are mostly targeting young people, have gained popularity.

According to South Korean chain of convenience stores GS25, sales of Japanese beer decreased by 90.2% year-on-year in the first half of 2020, whereas the first six months of this year saw a 91.2% drop versus the same period last year.

Convenience store chain CU's sales of Japanese beer declined 1.3% year-on-year in the first half of 2019, before the boycott, but in the second half of 2019, sales dropped every month: -88.5% in August 2019, -92.2% in September, -91.7% in October, -93.1% in November, and -93.8% in December 2019.

In the first half of 2020, it was -96.1% year-on-year and continued to decline with -13.1% in the first half of this year. However, overall sales of imported beer increased 3.8% in H1 20219, 25.4% in H1 2020, and 18.4% in H1 2021, respectively, showing a clear difference.

The decline of Japanese beers was triggered by the boycott, however, it is believed that the continued decline is because Japanese beers have missed the trend of demand and consumption of young people, who are the main consumers in South Korea.

The composition ratio of 7-Eleven's beer sales was 47.2% of Korean beers and 52.8% of imported products in 2017. In 2018, the gap between Korean beers (42.7%) and imported beers (57.3%) sales widened, showing significant preference for foreign products.

In 2019, when the boycott of Japanese products began, the gap narrowed to 45.6% for Korean beers and 54.4% for imported beers.

In 2020, Korean beer products (55.1%) surpassed imported products (44.9%), and the gap widened even in the first half of this year, making the Korean beers (57.7%) significantly surpass imported beers (42.3%).

It is attributed to the growth of domestic craft beer, which far exceeded in sales of Japanese beer.

At 7-Eleven, sales of Korean beers jumped 6.5 times (550.6%) and 3.8 times (285.6%) in the first half of this year from the same period last year. Although sales accounted for only 2.5% in 2018, it surpassed 15% from January to July this year.

The trend is similar in other companies. At CU, sales of Korean craft beer rose 2.1 times (117.1%) from the first half of 2019, 4.9 times (390.8%) in the first half of 2020 and 3.4 times (240.5%) in the first half of this year.

At GS25, the sales of Korean beer also jumped 4.8 times (381.4%) and 3.4 times (244%) from last year and the first half of this year, respectively.

Overall liquor industry is same. According to the trade statistics made by the Korea Customs Service, beer imports in the first half of this year amounted to USD 106.47 million (about 122.6 billion won), down 5.4% year-on-year. Korea's beer Imports reached the lowest since 2016 when it reached USD 79.41 million.

According to the trade statistics from the Korea Craft Brewers Association, sales of domestic craft beer amounted to 118 billion won last year. Compared to 2017 (43 billion won), the figure has grown 2.7 times in 3 years.

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