S.Korea's imports of Japanese beer in January hit $2 million

Japanese beer imports in January exceeded $2 million, the most since a bilateral row erupted in July 2019 after Japan imposed export restrictions on semiconductor material exports to South Korea.

Such imports, which declined due to a national boycott in South Korea over Japan’s restrictions, are showing a gradual recovery but have yet to return to pre-row levels.

The Korea Customs Service on Tuesday said Japanese beer imports in January reached $2,004,000, up 314.9% from the same month last year.

The volume is the largest since $4.3 million in July 2019, when Japan started regulating exports of semiconductor and display materials to South Korea after a ruling in Seoul found in favor of compensation for Korean victims of forced labor by Japan decades earlier.

Japanese beer imports exceeded $4 million in July 2019 but nosedived to $223,000 the following month and further to just $6,000 in September that year.

This was because of a national boycott of Japanese products like beer, clothing and cars after the restrictions were imposed.

Japanese beer brands like Asahi, Sapporo and Kirin disappeared from large supermarkets and convenience store shelves and found no other sales space.

As the boycott subsided, however, such imports in March last year rebounded to $1.5 million, recovering to the $1 million mark for the first time since the bilateral row.

From May to December last year, the amount also exceeded $1 million for eight consecutive months, culminating in recovery to the $2 million mark in January this year. 

Write to Jiyoon Yang at yang@hankyung.com