SEOUL, KOREA- Korea’s coffee market, covering the areas of instant coffee, cafés, and espresso machines, is expanding at a rapid pace thanks to Koreans’ unusual love of coffee. The number of coffee vending machines, however, is on a downward trend.

According to the Korea Vending Machine Operating Cooperative, the number of coffee vending machines installed throughout the country fell to 51,782 units as of the end of 2011 from 109,214 in late 2008. The number of coffee vending machines fell by 20,000 units a year, with its total number halving within such a short period of three years.

The coffee vending machine was introduced first in Korea in 1977 when Lotte Industries, which changed its name to Lotte International today, introduced 400 units of coffee vending machines from Japan’s Sharp.

The number of the machines, thereafter, increased rapidly in and after the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, with the number of the machines newly released per year rising to over 20,000 units. Today, however, the annual number of newly installed vending machines fell to a tenth of its peak. Key factors behind the sharp decline in the number of the machines no doubt include a rapid increase in the number of specialty coffee houses and convenience stores.