Wine overtook whisky as Korea’s largest import alcoholic beverage for the first time in history.
According to the Korea International Trade Association on August 5, the nation’s imports of wine amounted to $94.43 million in the first half of this year, exceeding whiskey’s $91.73 million. This was the first time in Korea that the half-year imports of wine exceed those of whiskey.
In the first half of this year, wine accounted for 24.9 percent in Korea’s total imports of foreign liquors which amounted to $379.84 million, while the share of whiskey stood at 24.1 percent.
The share of whiskey which once accounted for two thirds of the nation’s imports of foreign liquors, slipped to less than one fourth.
Korea’s wine imports grew 5.5 percent in the first half of this year compared to a year ago, while those of whiskey took a downturn. After falling for three straight years from 2011 to 2013, the nation’s whiskey imports rebounded last year to $198.28 million, but fell again in the first half of this year.
