South Korea: Hite Jinro’s Terra beer enjoys growing demand in Korea

South Korea’s Hite Jinro announced on November 21st that the cumulative sales of its beer brand Terra exceeded 5.08 billion bottles as of the 20th. This means that 28 bottles (330mL) were sold per second, and a total of 1.67 billion litres were sold, mk.co.kr reported.

Terra exceeded 1 million box sales 39 days after its launch in March 2019 and continued to grow explosively, setting a record for sales at the fastest pace among beer brands.

Since then, despite the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has continued its trend with an annual average growth rate of 26% over the past five years, and has now become a representative beer brand in Korea.

The performance of Terra Light, which was released in July, is also driving sales growth. Since the launch of Terra Light, the home market sales of Terra brands in July-August, the peak beer season, have increased 13% year-on-year.

According to market researcher Nielsen Korea, Terra Light became the No. 1 seller of light beer in large discount stores nationwide within a month of its launch, leading the sales gap with the second-largest brand by more than 1.5 times by October.

Oh Sung-taek, managing director of Hite Jinro Marketing Office, said, "Terra Light is gaining popularity as a healthy alternative as the trend of enjoying and taking care of health among the younger generation has recently spread. We will carry out various activities so that Terra Light can grow with Terra by leading a new trend in the domestic beer market."

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