Beer Bears Brunt of Japan Boycott
17 September, 2019
Beer is suffering the brunt of Koreans' boycott of Japanese goods.
The Korea Customs Service said imports of Japanese beer for the month of August stood at US$223,000, just 1/34 of the same period last year. The decline came as more Koreans shun Japanese products after Japanese export curbs to Korea.
Sales of Japanese beer, which took over the top spot from American beer in January 2009, have been dwindling in recent months. The decade-long rule at the top came to an end in July as Belgium and the U.S. beer pushed Japan down to No. 3. But last month it fell to No. 13 behind France, Mexico and even Hong Kong.
One reason is that beer has to be bought in shops, which increases peer pressure. Korea prohibits online purchase of alcohol, so consumers must venture into places where the prevailing anti-Japanese sentiment will make them self-conscious even if Asahi is deep down their favorite lager in the world.
Korean retailers are catching on. Last month, major convenience stores started excluding Japanese beer from their popular "four cans for W10,000" promotions, which gives consumers another reason to overlook it (US$1=W1,184).
The total amount of imported beer stood at $31 million in August 2018 but shrank to $24.16 million last month. That means other imported brands did not take up the market space left by the Japanese brands. Even if imports from China took the top spot, their sales increased only $15,000 on-year.
Domestic beer manufacturers are aiming to claw back their market share. HiteJinro's Terra beer, launched in March, already sold over 200 million bottles by Aug. 27.
Last month, in an attempt to increase its market share, Oriental Brewery cut the factory price on its signature Cass beer for a month for the first time in the company's history.
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