Japanese beer imports top 100,000 tons for 1st time in 2025 on rising demand

A customer stands in front of Japanese beer displayed at a supermarket in Seoul in this Jan. 17, 2024 photo. Yonhap

Imports of Japanese beer into Korea surpassed 100,000 tons for the first time last year, driven by growing demand at convenience stores, supermarkets and other retail outlets, data showed Sunday.

Korea imported 100,322 tons of Japanese beer in 2025, up 22 percent from a year earlier, according to the annual imported food inspection report released by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Imports of Japanese beer had risen steadily to over 86,000 tons in 2018 but fell to just over 50,000 tons in 2019 after a nationwide boycott of Japanese products amid frayed bilateral relations between Seoul and Tokyo.

Annual imports remained below 10,000 tons in 2020 and 2021 before rebounding in 2022. They surpassed 70,000 tons in 2023 and 82,000 tons in 2024.

Japanese beer also overtook imports from the European Union (EU) to become Korea's largest source of imported beer by region in 2025, with a market share of 41.7 percent.

In contrast, beer imports from the EU, which had approached 200,000 tons in 2019, have declined steadily in recent years, falling to 84,254 tons in 2024 and 63,161 tons in 2025.