Koreans' Deep Love for Coffee... Last Year’s Import Value Surpassed 1 Billion Dollars for the First Time

More Than Doubled in Just 4 Years
18,000 More Than Chicken Restaurants

Citizens visiting the '2022 Cafe & Bakery Fair' held at KINTEX in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi Province on October 6 last year are examining coffee beans.
Photo by Kim Hyun-min, Goyang

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] The number of coffee and beverage shops in South Korea has steadily increased, nearing 100,000 locations. Last year, coffee import value surpassed $1 billion (approximately 1.26 trillion KRW) for the first time.

According to the Food Industry Statistics Information System of the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation on the 9th, the number of coffee and beverage shop stores at the end of last year reached 99,000, a 17.4% increase from the previous year-end, marking a record high. This figure was compiled based on local administrative permit data from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

The number of coffee and beverage shops increased from 49,000 at the end of 2018 to 59,000 at the end of 2019, 70,000 at the end of 2020, 84,000 at the end of 2021, and approached 100,000 by the end of last year. Compared to four years ago at the end of 2018, the number of stores increased by 102.1% (50,000 stores), more than doubling in just four years.

The growth rate of coffee and beverage shops was much higher than that of other restaurants. During the recent four years when coffee and beverage shops increased by 102.1%, Western restaurants grew by 80.9%, Japanese cuisine by 76.4%, Chinese cuisine by 43.7%, snack bars by 38.5%, Korean cuisine by 33.9%, chicken restaurants by 31.3%, fast food by 23.1%, and pubs by 15.3%. Mobile and delivery food services increased by 116.2%, surpassing coffee and beverage shops in growth rate, but their total number of stores was around 2,000.

With the rapid increase in coffee and beverage shops, they have even outnumbered chicken restaurants. At the end of 2018, coffee and beverage shops numbered 49,000, fewer than chicken restaurants at 61,000, but by the end of 2021, coffee and beverage shops reached 84,000, surpassing chicken restaurants at 76,000.

By the end of last year, coffee and beverage shops totaled 99,000, 18,000 more than chicken restaurants at 81,000. Accordingly, as of the end of last year, Korean restaurants were the most numerous at 362,000, followed by coffee and beverage shops at 99,000, ranking second.

Next in order are chicken restaurants (81,000), pubs (47,000), snack bars (42,000), Western restaurants (39,000), Chinese restaurants (26,000), Japanese restaurants (20,000), and fast food (13,000).

Koreans' love for coffee is also reflected in coffee import values. According to customs trade statistics, coffee imports from January to November last year amounted to $1.1035 billion, a 45.1% increase compared to the same period the previous year. This is the first time annual coffee import value has exceeded $1 billion.

Coffee import values have steadily increased from $640 million in 2018, $660 million in 2019, $740 million in 2020, to $920 million in 2021. Comparing last year's (January to November) coffee import value to the annual import value of 2002, twenty years ago, which was $71.42 million, it is about 16.7 times higher.

Coffee import value includes all coffee products regardless of roasting or decaffeination, as well as coffee husks and coffee substitutes containing coffee.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.