By Yoon Ja-young
Park Ji-hyun, an office worker, starts the day with a cup of coffee; and after lunch, she goes to the coffee house with her colleagues for another.
Park consumes slightly more than the average for a Korean worker — 1.5 cups per day — as coffee has become one of the most preferred drinks here.
There is about a one-in-three chance that she drinks coffee from Vietnam, a one in eight chance that it is from Brazil, and a 10 percent chance that it is Colombian.
According to the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA), Koreans are consuming on average one-and-a-half cups of coffee daily. Most of the coffee consumed here is imported from Southeast Asia and Latin America.
“Koreans consume around 300 tons of coffee beans a day, which is equivalent to 37 million cups of espresso. It means each of the economically active population of 24 million is consuming 1.5 cups of coffee daily,” an official at the KFDA explained.
He advised that one should pay heed not to take more than the recommended 400 milligrams of caffeine daily. A cup of espresso has around 100 milligrams.
The data showed that Korea imports coffee from 83 countries. Vietnam provided 38 percent, followed by Brazil at 15 percent and Colombia at 11 percent.
In 2010 Brazil was the biggest coffee producer in the world, with annual production of 2.9 million tons. Vietnam was second with 1.1 million tons, followed by Indonesia, Colombia and India. Vietnamese coffee beans are often used for instant coffee, which is still the most popular type of coffee among Koreans.
Imports totaled 123,029 tons last year, 1.6 times that of 2001. The cost, meanwhile, grew by 8 times to $668 million from $80 million 11 years ago.
Korea imports most of its coffee, or 88 percent, as beans. While these mostly came from Southeast Asia and Latin America, processed coffee, such as instant, liquid or roasted coffee, was mainly imported from the United States and Italy.
The bean imports registered 108,918 tons last year, costing $412 million. The administration said that the increase of cafes and coffee shops pulled up the coffee bean import.
지난해 우리나라의 하루 커피 소비량은 약 300톤에 달하는 것으로 조사됐다. 이는 경제활동인구(2400만명)가 하루 한 잔 반의 커피를 마신 셈이다.
16일 식품의약품안전청이 지난 11년간 커피의 수입현황을 분석한 결과에 따르면, 커피 수입량은 2001년 7만9526톤에서 2011년 12만3029톤으로 1.6배 늘었다.
금액 기준으로 8000만 달러에서 6억6800만 달러로 8배 많아졌다.
식약청 관계자는 "원두 농가의 인건비 상승, 원자재 펀드 자금 유입 등으로 인한 원두 가격 상승으로 인해 수입 물량 상승폭이 비해 커피 수입 가격 상승폭이 훨씬 큰 것으로 보인다"고 설명했다.
국내에 들어오는 물량 대부분(88%)은 원두 형태로 들어왔다. 원두 수입량은 2001년 7만6757톤에서 지난해 10만8918톤으로 1.4배, 금액기준(6200만 달러→4억1200만 달러)으로는 6.7배 늘었다.
원두의 주요 수입국은 베트남(41%), 브라질(15%), 콜롬비아(12%), 온두라스(10%), 인도네시아(7%) 순이었다. 지난 11년간 상위 5개국에서 수입된 커피 중량 중 원두가 차지하는 비중은 85%에 달했다.
지난해 원두 수입량 기준으로 살펴보면, 우리나라의 하루 커피 소비량은 약 300톤이었다. 에스프레소로 치면 3700만잔에 해당한다. 이는 경제활동인구(2400만명)가 하루에 한 잔 반의 커피를 마시는 꼴이다.
식약청은 "에스프레소 한 잔에는 카페인이 100mg 들어있다"면서 "1일 카페인 권장량 400mg을 초과하지 않도록 주의할 필요가 있다"고 권고했다.
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