South Korea’s Top 10 Wine Exporters in January 2022

South Korea saw its wine importations grow to US$47 million at the start of the new year.

Based on data from the Korea Customs Service, the country raised its wine imports by 4% in January, mainly driven by increases in exports made by its top three exporters.

France, which remains its top wine exporter, delivered around US$14 million worth of wines to South Korea, rising by 4% compared to the same month last year.

The United States went up two notches taking the second spot as a top exporter as it raised wine exports by 31% to US$9 million. 

Imported wines from Italy grew by 4% in value to $7.4 million.

Chilean wines, which was formerly the second-biggest imported wine in South Korea, went down to the fourth spot as imports fell by 19% to US$6 million.

Australia switched places with Spain for fifth place as it raised wine exports by a fifth to US$3 million. Spanish wines declined by 15% to US$2.9 million.

Argentinian wines also swapped with New Zealand wines for the seventh spot as importation rose by 46% to US$1.3 million. The latter still showed import growth of 12%. 

Wine importations from Portugal and Germany both went down by 10% and 39%, respectively.  

In terms of categories, there was no change in imported wines in containers holding 2 liters or less at US$38.4 million. 

Imported bottles of over 2L but less than 10L expanded by four times to $420,000. Meanwhile, there was a 15% increase in other imported wines.

South Korea’s Top 10 Wine Exporters in January 2022 vs 2021

Rank	Country	Value in 2022	Value in 2021	% Change
1	France	$13,760,000	$13,292,000	+4%
2	United States	$9,107,000	$6,942,000	+31%
3	Italy	$7,432,000	$7,165,000	+4%
4	Chile	$5,896,000	$7,317,000	-19%
5	Australia	$3,095,000	$2,587,000	+20%
6	Spain	$2,983,000	$3,508,000	-15%
7	Argentina	$1,334,000	$911,000	+46%
8	New Zealand	$1,256,000	$1,121,000	+12%
9	Portugal	$538,000	$595,000	-10%
10	Germany	$300,000	$491,000	-39%
	Total	$46,739,000	$44,801,000	+4%

Wine Categories in January 2022 vs 2021

Bottled Wine Size	Value in 2022	Value in 2021	% Change
In containers holding 2 L or less	$38,403,000	$38,634,000	=
In containers holding more than 2 L but not more than 10 L	$424,000	$95,000	+346%
Other	$730,000	$637,000	+15%