(image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Oct. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — New data shows that South Korea is one of the 10 largest importers (in terms of price) of coffee products produced in the European Union (EU).
According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, the sum amount of coffee products exported from the EU to South Korea last year totaled 33.51 million euros (approximately 43.6 billion won).
This accounts for 2.2 percent of all coffee exports by the EU (1.5 billion euros).
The United States was the largest coffee market for the EU (406.6 million euros), accounting for 27.1 percent of all exports, followed by Russia (160.13 million euros, 10.7 percent), and Switzerland (160.13 million euros, 10.7 percent).
Other big importers of EU coffee products included Australia (81.31 million euros, 5.4 percent), the Ukraine (76.36 million euros, 5.1 percent), Norway (59.84 million euros, 4 percent), Canada (51.36 million euros, 3.4 percent), Japan (34.48 million euros, 2.3 percent), China (33.56 million euros, 2.2 percent), and Korea, rounding out the top 10 importers of EU-produced coffee products.
In terms of quantity, the EU exported 272,707 tons of coffee outside of its jurisdiction. South Korea imported 1.2 percent of this amount, which totaled 3,358 tons.
Meanwhile, 9.2 tons of coffee products produced in South Korea with a total value of 95,000 euros (123.5 million won), of relatively minimal value in comparison, were exported to the EU.
A total of 2.92 million tons of coffee beans and coffee products were imported by the EU last year. Brazilian products accounted for 29 percent of the imports (840,000 tons), followed by products from Vietnam (627,000 tons, 23 percent).
More than one-third of the coffee that made its way into the EU was imported by Germany (1.1 million tons, 37 percent).
Other EU member states that consumed large amounts of imported coffee were Italy (552,000 tons, 19 percent), Belgium (268,000 tons, 9 percent), Spain (239,000 tons, 8 percent), France (217,000 tons, 7 percent), and the U.K. (161,000 tons, 6 percent).
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
