South Korea: A decline in beer sales registered this year

Sales of beer for the five months, January-May 2005, fell 2.3% compared to the same period a year earlier to some 7.68 million hl, Asia Pulse posed on July 6. On Tuesday, the Bank of Korea cut its growth forecast for the South Korean economy this year from 4.0 per cent to 3.8 per cent, citing higher oil prices.

Liquor sales fell in the first five months of the year in South Korea, mainly due to a continued slowdown in the economy, industrial sources said Wednesday. In the five-month period, some 447 million liters of soju were sold in South Korea, down 4.2 per cent from the same period last year.

The decline in sales of soju, a popular South Korean distilled liquor, is significant because soju sales traditionally rise during periods of economic downturn.

Jinro Ltd., the nation's leading producer of soju, saw its sales slump 2.1 per cent year-on-year to some 248.5 million liters during the five-month period, according to the company.

Whiskey sales fell 2.2 per cent from a year earlier to 98.3 million liters.

Annual whiskey sales in South Korea plummeted last year after the government launched a crackdown on the nation's sex industry.