Korea - The beverage market worths 3 billion dollars
In Korea Standard and specification for food, beverage refers to those intended for drinkings, such as tea, coffee, fruit and vegetable beverages, carbonated beverages, soybean milk products, fermented beverages, and ginseng and red ginseng beverages. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, coffee beverage is the largest category in drinks (22.1%) followed by carbonated beverages (21.3%) and fruit and vegetable beverages (18.4%). However, sales of functional beverages such as energy, ginseng, ion, and vitamin drinks increased in 2015 and 2016. On the other hand, sales of beverages, liquid tea, and coffee beverages are declining due to the expansion of specialty stores.
The volume of beverage exports increased 161.8% over the past decade from $ 199.81 million in 2007 to $ 519.96 million in 2016. In the same period, imports increased 20% (from $ 288.1 to $ 250.1 million). The major exporting countries are China (23.9%), United States (15.4%) and Cambodia (10.9%). These three countries account for 50.2% of the total. Especially in Italy, exports of products with low sugar content (not exceeding 20 Brix value) have increased 205 times since 2014. Also the exports of other fruit and vegetable beverages to Malaysia and mixed juices to Taiwan increased over the last three years.
The major importing countries of beverages are the United States (30.2%), Germany (6.7%) and China (5.5%): these countries account for 42.4% of the total.
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs