Seoul, November 22nd : .South Korea’s whiskey imports rose more than 70% in the first ten months of this year, as people consumed more alcohol during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Data was revealed Monday. Yonhap News Agency reported that the value of imports reached $93.21million in January-October, an increase of 73.1 percent over a previous year.
This is the first year-over-year rise in whiskey imports to the country since 2014.
According to industry sources, the rise was due to an increase in people drinking at home during the pandemics and subsequent lockdowns.
Since 2007, when the country’s peak whiskey imports was $264.6 Million, South Korea has been experiencing a decline in its whiskey trades.
This was after the 2016 implementation of draconian antigraft laws in the country and the 2018 52-hour workweek.
Many bars were shut down in Seoul due to social isolation measures.
Foreign whiskey producers’ local subsidiaries performed much better due to the increase in imports.
Pernod Ricard Korea saw its turnover increase by 31.6 percent to $101 Million in fiscal 2020 (July 2020 – June 2021), and its operating profit shoot up by 66.9 Percent.
The sales of Diageo Korea Co.(the South Korean division of British alcoholic beverage firm Diageo Plc) fell by 3.6 percent in the same financial year.However, its operating income rose to 85 per cent.
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