The Japanese liquor market is booming. Japanese whiskey and sake set new import records last year, and Japanese beer, which once disappeared due to boycotts of Japanese products and “no-jaguar fans,” has recently regained its No. 1 spot. As Japanese liquor, which had suffered from a crisis of extinction in the Korean market, has opened up a new boom, Japanese liquor companies are expected to further strengthen their entry into the domestic market this year.
According to the Korea Customs Service’s import and export trade statistics on the 23rd, Korea’s imports of Japanese sake (Cheongju) amounted to $21.38 million last year, up 12.6% from $18.99 million last year, the highest since the related statistics were released in 2000.
Japan’s sake imports have been around $10 million a year for more than 10 years since 2010, but exceeded $20 million for the first time last year. Imports also rose 10.7% year-on-year to 4,298 tons, the highest since 2018 (5444 tons), before the labor trial. With the popularization of Japanese-style Izakaya, demand for mid- to low-priced sake, mainly in the restaurant industry, has increased, leading to an increase in sake imports.
Individuals are also buying sake from overseas direct purchases. According to Maltail, an overseas direct purchase platform, direct purchase sales in Japan increased by 17% compared to 2022, while sake sales increased by 712%. Traditional sake with regional characteristics along with famous products such as “Dotai” and “Kuboda” has become popular, and it seems that they have purchased expensive sake mainly from enthusiasts. The weak Japanese yen since last year has also affected the increase in demand for direct purchases. There has been a more dramatic change in beer imports. Last year, imports of Japanese beer reached $55.52 million, up 283.3 percent from $14.48 million last year. With imports nearly quadrupling in a year, the company has regained its No. 1 spot for the first time in five years since 2018, before the boycott. Japanese beer is one of the items most affected by the boycott of Japanese products, and in 2020, at the height of the boycott, it virtually disappeared from convenience stores and marts. However, it began to rebound in earnest from 2022 and recovered to the 70 percent level last year compared to just before the boycott.
It was Asahi that led the rise. The “Asahi Superdry Draft Beer Can,” also known as the “Big Lid Beer” because the entire can is opened and foamed like draft beer, has caused a shortage since Lotte Asahi Liquor officially launched it in Korea in May last year, leading to the revival of Japanese beer. As Japanese beer began to rebound, Lotte Asahi Liquor, which had an operating loss of 19.8 billion won in 2019, turned into a surplus for the first time in three years
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
