According to data released by the Korea Customs Service on July 4, the volume of imports during the month of May was 54,000 tons, up 10 percent from 49,000 tons from the same month a year ago.(image:marina.shakleina/flickr)
SEOUL, July 6 (Korea Bizwire) – Following last year, the imports of coffee bean have increased. The average coffee consumption per person this year was 298 cups, up 10 cups from the previous year.
According to data released by the Korea Customs Service on July 4, the volume of imports during the month of May was 54,000 tons, up 10 percent from 49,000 tons from the same month a year ago. The coffee import volume for the whole year of 2013 was up 4.3 percent to 120,000 tons from the previous year’s 115,000 tons.
This is equivalent to an adult older than 20 years of age drinking 298 cups of Java a year, up 3.8 percent from 288 cups per person in 2012. Due to a fall in the average price of coffee bean (accounting for 90% of all coffee imports) last year, the total coffee import bill has declined even while the import volume has increased. Meanwhile, the imports of processed coffee products have fallen by the two-digit figure.
The total imports of raw coffee beans last year was 107,113 tons, with processed products 6,989 tons and roasted beans 6,127 tons. The imports of raw beans and roasted beans rose 6.9 percent and 13.8 percent, respectively, while those for processed products falling 21.8 percent.
The biggest share of the beans originated from Vietnam (32.4%), followed by Brazil (19.2%). But the largest source of roasted beans was the United States that accounted for 1,415 tons. This is largely because the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement came into effect in 2012, which has increased the 2013 roasted coffee bean imports 28.7 percent from the previous year, followed by 16.5 percent in 2013.
Written by Sean Chung (schung10@koreabizwire.com)
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