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In 2024, the domestic sales value of alcoholic beverages stood at approximately 6.07 trillion South Korean won. That year, the alcoholic beverage market in South Korea was led by beer, followed by soju. Those two are also often consumed together as somaek (soju + maekju(beer)).

Beer market in South Korea

The domestic beer industry in South Korea has been growing during the past years, and accordingly, the retail sales value of beer in the market was expected to keep on growing. Although South Koreans liked to try new sorts of beer, the import of beer recorded a new low in 2022 since 2017. Beer imports had first started to notably declined in 2019 and 2020 due to the boycott of Japanese products, which was one of the largest suppliers of beer to South Korea. Despite the openness to try foreign beer, the most preferred beer brand was a domestic one.

Alcohol consumption among South Koreans

Drinking alcohol plays a big part in the social life of many South Koreans. In their work-life, hoisiks (drinking parties after work) are still a common practice among most companies, but even without those meetings, alcohol consumption did not decrease. In that alcohol consumption, beer made up around ** percent. Moreover, a survey that year found that most South Koreans preferred to drink beer at home.