Korea Beer Import Market
Imported beer in South Korea — origin countries, the breweries shipping most often and the monthly volume trend.
Updated Aug 2026 · from official Korean import declarations
- Korea logged 2,169 beer import declarations in the last six months, up 18% on the six months before.
- Japan is the largest origin with 21.8% of all shipments (938).
- Czechia is growing fastest among established origins — up 65% over the last three months against the three before.
- Spain is losing ground, down 35% over the same window.
- 32 overseas suppliers shipped beer to Korea for the first time in the last three months, against 10 new buyers — new entrants are competing for existing accounts, not new ones.
- Aug 2026 shipments were down 12% on the month before.
Monthly shipments — beer
the 6 before
Each declaration is one customs filing, not one container — a useful proxy for how often a market is being served rather than for tonnage.
Where it comes from
Origin share and momentum
| Origin | Shipments | Share | 3m vs prior 3m |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 938 | 21.8% | ▲ 52% |
| United States | 853 | 19.8% | ▲ 45% |
| Belgium | 407 | 9.5% | ▼ 29% |
| Germany | 368 | 8.6% | ▲ 1% |
| China | 330 | 7.7% | ▲ 27% |
| Vietnam | 218 | 5.1% | ▲ 48% |
| Czechia | 177 | 4.1% | ▲ 65% |
| Netherlands | 152 | 3.5% | ▼ 18% |
| Ireland | 139 | 3.2% | ▼ 6% |
| Spain | 69 | 1.6% | ▼ 35% |
Growth is suppressed where the earlier window holds fewer than 20 shipments — a move from three to nine is not a trend.
Top suppliers to Korea
| # | Overseas manufacturer | Ships |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ASAHI BREWERIES, LTD. HAKATA BREWERY | 294 |
| 2 | SAPPORO BREWERIES LTD | 205 |
| 3 | DIAGEO IRELAND | 138 |
| 4 | PLZENSKY PRAZDROJ, A.S. | 136 |
| 5 | ANHEUSER-BUSCH BREWING PROPERTIES, LLC WILLIAMSBURG | 132 |
| 6 | HEINEKEN NETHERLANDS SUPPLY B.V. | 122 |
| 7 | KIRIN BREWERY COMPANY , LIMITED | 95 |
| 8 | SAPPORO BREWERIES LTD. | 83 |
| 9 | NO.2 BREWERY, TSINGTAO BREWERY CO., LTD. | 81 |
| 10 | SUNTORY SPIRITS LIMITED | 77 |
- 1Tonad Jidoq Zuvosu Guw432
- 2Lud Rijakeli Gaf Mup352
- 3Padutege Dulucov Gak Ref288
- 4Vuhiviwu Socem Soq Den273
- 5Behugacin Hej Pob186
- 6Gic Ginafe Tugif Zum181
- 7Rebuwak Vas Hok176
110 Korean companies import beer.
This report does not name them.
KoreanImportData tracks every one of them — who they buy from, which origins they switched to, how often they ship and when they last imported. Search the full register by product, company or country, in English.
Every account starts free with five lookups — no card required.
These twelve are the biggest categories, not the only ones. The register covers every food, beverage, nutraceutical and packaging item type Korea imports.
Request a custom reportMethod and coverage
Figures are counts of individual import declarations lodged with the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, covering Jul 2025 to Aug 2026. This report covers the official item type Beer — matched on the declared item type only, never on product-name text, so unrelated goods cannot be pulled in by a keyword.
Origin is the declared country of manufacture, not the country the goods were shipped from, which can differ where a distributor re-exports.
Company and product names are translated or transliterated from the official Korean record and may be imperfect; the Korean record is authoritative. One manufacturer can appear under more than one plant or spelling.
The register is reloaded monthly and this page is rebuilt with it. Figures here will differ from a report you read last month, by design.