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Korea's coffee imports exceed 2 trillion won for 1st time in 2025

Published: 25 Jan. 2026, 12:55 Updated: 25 Jan. 2026, 16:25

A shopper selects coffee products at a supermarket in Seoul on Jan. 7. [YONHAP]

Korea imported over 2 trillion won ($1.38 billion) worth of coffee last year, breaching the 2 trillion won mark for the first time in its history largely due to a hike in global prices and a weak Korean won, data showed Sunday.

Coffee imports amounted to 2.65 trillion won last year, up 41 percent from 2024, according to the data from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade.

In dollars, the country's coffee imports jumped 35 percent on-year to $1.86 billion from $1.38 billion over the cited period.

The sharp increase was largely attributed to recent hikes in global prices of coffee, which reached a record high of over $4 per pound in February 2025 before dropping to around $3.5.

The weak local currency also pushed up the won-denominated amount of coffee imports as the Korean won had weakened to multiple year lows throughout last year.

In terms of volume, imports of coffee dipped 46 tons from a year earlier to 215,792 tons in 2025, according to the data.

Yonhap