China's 'Sobyun Beer' Controversy Brings Smiles to Japanese Beer... Popular Among Young People as 'Boycott Movement Is a Thing of the Past'

Customs Service Export-Import Trade Statistics Announcement
Japan Beer Import Value Reached 50.3 Million USD from January to November Last Year

As Chinese beer brands that were popular around ‘Qingdao’ declined, imports of Japanese beer surged significantly. Following the endemic and the revitalization of Japanese tourism, Japanese beer gradually strengthened its position, and after the ‘hygiene controversy’ surrounding Chinese beer emerged, it quickly reclaimed its status as the ‘strongest imported beer nation.’

According to export-import trade statistics announced by the Korea Customs Service on the 13th, the import value of Japanese beer from January to November last year reached 50.3 million dollars. Even before the import value for December last year was reflected, it had already exceeded the total import value for 2021 (14.48 million dollars) by 247.3%. During this period, the import volume also increased by 218.4%, from 18,940 tons to 60,305 tons.

Asahi brand products are displayed at a Japanese beer sales stand set up in a large supermarket in Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

In October last year, a video spread on social media showing a man urinating in a malt storage warehouse, which is a raw material for beer, at the third Qingdao Brewery factory in Pingdu City, Shandong Province, China. Qingdao, one of China’s four major beers, was stigmatized as ‘urine beer,’ and the company’s market capitalization on the Shanghai Stock Exchange evaporated by more than 1 trillion won in just two days.

China’s beer exports were also hit. In Korea, as of October last year, the import value of Chinese beer was 1.927 million dollars, a 37.7% decrease compared to the same month the previous year (3.094 million dollars).

Asahi Super Dry Draft Beer Can. [Photo by Lotte Asahi Liquor]

The import value of Japanese beer peaked at 78.3 million dollars in 2018 but sharply declined from July 2019 as the domestic boycott movement spread. This was influenced by the boycott movement in Korea after the Japanese government imposed export restrictions on semiconductor and display materials to Korea in response to the Korean Supreme Court’s ruling on compensation for forced labor victims.

The import volume of Japanese beer was 86,676 tons in 2018, ranking first among importing countries, but it plummeted to 47,331 tons in 2019, falling to third place, and dropped to 10th place in 2020.

However, under the current government, as Korea-Japan relations improved and the boycott movement subsided, imports of Japanese beer increased again. In particular, the ‘Asahi Super Dry Draft Beer Can,’ also known as the ‘Wangttukyeong Draft Beer,’ officially launched in Korea by Lotte Asahi Liquor in May last year, gained popularity, significantly boosting Japanese beer imports.

Although the overall imported beer market has somewhat stagnated recently due to competition from other alcoholic beverages like whiskey, Japanese beer is expected to continue its upward trend for the time being. It is said to dominate in popularity, especially among younger consumers.

In fact, just two days after Lotte Asahi Liquor released the new product, the total orders at convenience store GS25 reached 500,000 cans. Despite being the largest volume ever in the 340ml beer category distributed by GS25 at the time, the stock sold out nationwide within a day, demonstrating its popularity.

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