Korea marks first drop in coffee imports in 5 years

Korea’s coffee imports have shrunken this year, according to the Korea Customs Service. The decline is attributed to a drought that impeded global coffee production. According to the Korea Customs Service’s trade statistics on Jan. 21, the volume of Korea’s coffee imports from January to July this year stood at 109,752 tons, down 3.9 percent from the same period in 2022.

The value of coffee imports also fell 9.5 percent to US$646.73 million. Both the volume and value of coffee imports include coffee husks and coffee substitutes containing coffee, whether roasted or decaffeinated. If the current decline holds through the end of the year, it will mark the first time in five years that Korea’s coffee imports have fallen on an annualized basis in five years since 2018.

Koreans’ love of coffee has fueled a steady increase in the country’s coffee imports. After climbing from 158,000 tons in 2018 to 168,000 tons in 2019, 170,000 tons in 2020, and 189,000 tons in 2021, Korea’s coffee imports crossed the 200,000-ton mark for the first time to hit 205,000 tons in 2022.

Coffee imports grew from US$640 million in 2018 to US$920 million in 2021, then crossed the US$1 billion mark 2022, reaching US$1.3 billion.

This year, however, Korea’s coffee imports stalled and are on the decline. Some have attributed the decline to lower global coffee production. Major coffee exporters such as Brazil and Indonesia have seen their coffee harvests decline due to abnormal weather.

In Indonesia, the world’s third-largest producer of “robusta” coffee beans, coffee production is expected to drop by about 20 percent next year as El Nino conditions keep a drought going.

There is also a base effect of a huge increase in Korea’s coffee imports in 2022. In 2022, Korea’s coffee imports grew 8.2 percent year on year, the largest increase in six years since 2016 (an 11.1 percent increase). The value of imports increased by 42.4 percent, the largest increase in 11 years since 2011 (66.5 percent).

By country, Korea imported 15,353 tons of coffee from Colombia from January to July this year, down 7.9 percent from a year earlier, and 7,888 tons from Ethiopia, down 17.8 percent. Korea’s coffee imports from the United States also fell 34.2 percent to 4,676 tons. On the other hand, Korea’s coffee imports from Brazil inflated 16.5 percent to 29,505 tons and those from Vietnam 22.2 percent to 24,627 tons.

The chart below shows Brazilian coffee exports to South Korea from Jan 2019 to Jul 2023. The data used below is from DataLiner.

Coffee exports to Korea |Jan 2019-Jul 2023 | WTMT

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Source : Businesskorea

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