By Park Ji-won
The popularity of wine has gained momentum with sales growth at large retail stores dominating those of other alcoholic beverages, including beer and traditional drinks for the first four months of the year.
This indicates increasing demand for a diverse range of imported wines and decreasing preference for traditional Korean alcohol.
According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), imports of foreign wines totaled 11,152 tons between January and April, up 30.2 percent from 8,567 tons a year ago.
Emart said its wine sales grew 13.8 percent during the Jan-April period, compared with 8.5 percent for soju and 6.2 percent for beer. Sales of traditional makgeoli fell by 7.5 percent.
Lotte Mart also said that its total sales of imported wines increased 3.5 percent in May on a year-on-year basis.
“The rising consumption of imported wine shows the consumers are becoming more sophisticated in selecting their alcohol beverages. Selecting and drinking wine indicates an upper-class culture; showing one’s knowledge of wines indicates one’s social status,” said Kim Na-kyung, an analyst at LG Economic Research Institute.
Meanwhile, domestic sales of traditional Korean alcoholic drinks have declined. The market share of soju, the most popular liquor in Korea, dropped 8.3 percent year-on-year to 89 million boxes in February 2013, according to data from the Korea Alcohol and Liquor Industry Association.
The market share of Cheom-cheorum soju, Lotte’s flagship brand, decreased 36.9 percent.
At discount chain Home plus, sales of makgeolli fell 2.1 percent in May compared to the same month last year said a company official who declined to be named.
“People are no longer hesitant in buying wine compared to the past. Wine has become their first choice when selecting alcohol, rather than soju or makgeolli. The wine market seems to be getting bigger,” Kim said.
Free trade agreements between Korea and popular wine-making countries such as Chile and the United States cut taxes on imported wines by 15 percent, diversifying the range of wines available.
An official at Winetime, a wine retail store that has been expanding its offerings, said consumers now seek a wider variety of wines than before. “Wines under 50,000 won ($44) sell well, which indicates wines have become popular among Korean consumers,” she said.
Since a wine label search function was installed on search engine Naver in April 2011, the number of searches for wine has been rising, said an official at NHN, which operates the site.