What is notable is that this year’s volume is a little higher than the 92,040 tons over the same period of 2011, which recorded the largest volume of coffee imports. (image: song zhen/flickr)
SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – According to industry statistics, Koreans drank 24.2 billion cups of coffee last year, approximately 484 cups of coffee a year and 1.3 cups per person. As more Koreans enjoy drinking coffee, it is expected to set a record this year in terms of the amount of coffee imports.
A Korean Customs Service statistics showed that from January to September this year, the imported volume of unroasted and roasted coffee beans increased 18.7 percent to 99,372 tons over the same period of the previous year’s 83,693 tons.
What is notable is that this year’s volume is a little higher than the 92,040 tons over the same period of 2011, which recorded the largest volume of coffee imports. By country, Korea imported the largest volume of coffee beans from Vietnam (23,686 tons), followed by Latin American countries including Brazil (17,566 tons), Colombia (14,043 tons), Honduras (9,219 tons) and Peru (6,782 tons).
In terms of value, the amount increased 21.2 percent to US$382 million this year from US$315.2 million over the same period of last year. However, as the coffee price became stable since 2012, the total amount of money that Korea spent for importing coffee beans is less than that of 2011 ($461.9 million).
The increased amount of coffee bean imports is related to the coffee franchises sprung up everywhere in Korea. An industry official said, “The popularity of coffee franchises regardless of domestic and foreign ones skyrocketed for the recent years. The consumption of coffee will keep increasing for the time being in Korea.”
By John Choi (johnchoi@koreabizwire.com)
