Japan & South Korea: Japan’s Asahi takes third place in Korea’s beer market

Amid a recent increase in Japanese beer imports to Korea, Japanese beer brand Asahi took third place in the Korean beer market (retail sales) in July, surpassing Hite Jinro’s Kelly, BusinessKorea reported on October 7.

Asahi’s retail sales reached 27.76 billion won (an 8.09 percent share) in July, the third highest among beer brands, according to Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp. (aT)’s food industry statistics on Oct. 5.

First place went to OB Beer’s Cass, with sales of 126.228 billion won (a 36.79 percent share). Hite Jinro’s Terra picked up second place by posting 37.359 billion won in sales and a 10.89 percent share.

Kelly which Hite Jinro launched in April came in fifth with 13.278 billion in sales in May and third with 26.169 billion won in sales in June, but slipped to fourth in July.

Asahi was not even in the top 10 in July 2022 but it moved up to No. 9 in March and then to No. 3 in July. Its July sales surged 698.85 percent compared to a year earlier.

July 2023 saw a surge in Japanese beer imports, reaching a July high. According to Korea Customs Service’s trade statistics, Japanese beer imports in July reached 7,985 tons, up 239.0 percent from the same month of 2022.

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