SEOUL, South Korea —South Korea’s coffee industry is estimated at 6.8 trillion won, or US$5.77 billion this year, the Hyundai Research Institute said Sunday in a report. The coffee sector will continue to expand fuelled by specialty coffee shops in the future, the reports also said.
The average adult in South Korea drank 353 cups of coffee per year as of 2018. The report predicted that the size of the coffee industry will grow to 8.6 trillion won in 2023 despite cafe franchises struggling to maintain profitability, as the specialty high-end coffee market expands.
The coffee industry is divided into specialty coffee shops, retail markets and small cafes, with sales of coffee shops standing at 4.3 trillion won and the retail market standing at 2.4 trillion won.
Demand for premium coffee has also increased amid the growing number of specialty coffee stores.
According to a survey of 1,000 men and women aged 15 to 59 nationwide by market research firm TrendMonitor, the portion of respondents who said they want to drink expensive coffee once in a while grew from 38.8 percent in 2014 to 44 percent in 2017.
