By Yoon Ja-young
Staff reporter
The import of overall consumer goods declined last year amid the economic recession and weakening of the local currency, but the import of some goods catering to young people such as smartphones, video games and luxury goods like watches from Switzerland increased.
Korea Customs Service announced Wednesday that rising imports of some consumer goods last year reflected new consumer trends, such as ``well-being,'' ``fun'' and ``youth-catering.''
The most notable is the smartphone. ``72.4 percent of cell phones imported last year came into the country between October and December, when Apple's iPhone was launched. The increase in cell phone imports owes most to the smartphone boom here,'' a source at the customs office said.
Cell phone imports grew by 2.5 times from 2008.
The import of coffee beans also surged as coffee shops like Starbucks and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf cater strongly to the younger generation. The import of coffee beans grew by 14 percent, but that of Vietnamese coffee beans, mostly used for instant coffee, dropped by 44 percent, reflecting that coffee consumers' taste shifted to high-end goods.
Also notable is the performance of high-end bottled water like Evian from France, which grew by 15 percent to mark $6.6 million in imports. Bottled water from France accounted for 76 percent of the total brought in. The import price of high-end bottled water averaged $0.75 per liter, which is higher than $0.49 per liter for crude oil. The customs office attributed the rise in the well-being trend to consumers.
Cigarette imports also rose by 17.5 percent, along with alternatives to cigarettes such as nicotine gum which grew by 18.6 percent. The customs office said that imports of these substitutes rose as people tried to quit smoking.
While overall liquor imports declined, Japanese Sake saw a 56 percent growth, as young people chose this over whiskey and wine. Whiskey imports dropped by 39 percent and wine by 33 percent.
``Sake became especially popular among young females, for its soft taste and sophisticated design,'' the customs office said. The import of Japanese sake has grown six fold during the past five years, marking $9.6 million last year.
Video games such as the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft's Xbox, saw a 48 percent increase as more people sought fun with their family.
The imported car market was sluggish, but diesel cars with an engine displacement capacity of less than 2500cc expanded by 43 percent. Customs office said that these cars created a new mainstream in the import market, especially with young consumers.
Despite the economic recession, people didn't cut down on spending for cosmetics. Imports grew by 3.2 percent last year, and U.S. cosmetics came top in the market, replacing French products.
Imports of musical instruments and related equipment rose as more young people took up music related hobbies.
Sales of Swiss made luxury watches didn't falter despite the recession, with imports rising 20.5 percent.