Customers waiting in a long queue in front of U.S. coffee brand Blue Bottle Coffee’s second store in South Korea on July 5, 2019. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jul. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Industry analysts say that the South Korean coffee industry will continue to expand fueled by specialty coffee shops in the future.
South Korea’s coffee industry is estimated at 6.8 trillion won (US$5.77 billion) this year, the Hyundai Research Institute said Sunday in a report.
The coffee industry is divided into specialty coffee shops, retail markets and small cafes, with sales of coffee shops standing at 4.3 trillion won and the retail market standing at 2.4 trillion won.
The report predicted that the size of the coffee industry will grow to 8.6 trillion won in 2023 despite cafe franchises struggling to maintain profitability, as the specialty high-end coffee market expands.
Specialty coffee is rated at more than 80 points by the International Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), including Starbucks Reserve Bar and Blue Bottle.
Demand for premium coffee has also increased amid the growing number of specialty coffee stores.
According to a survey of 1,000 men and women aged 15 to 59 nationwide by market research firm TrendMonitor, the portion of respondents who said they want to drink expensive coffee once in a while grew from 38.8 percent in 2014 to 44 percent in 2017.
When looking in detail at the coffee industry is and its characteristics, the average adult drank 353 cups of coffee per year as of 2018.
On the other hand, coffee consumption per adult in the world amounted to 132 cups in the same year, only one-third of domestic consumption.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
Hi, Greetings,
Thanks for sharing the nice article on coffee business/industry growth in Europe, You have summed up all the information in one article. yes, there is a lot of opportunities for business in coffee shops. I hope this trend will more flourish in 2020.