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| Sales of Lotte Liquor's Fitz beer had topped 100 million bottles in less than a year as of February. / Capture from Twitter |
By Ko Dong-hwan
While Seoul suffers an onslaught of imported beers thanks to a lowered trade bar, a domestic newcomer has sold more than 100 million bottles, as of Feb. 26.
Fitz Super Clear by Lotte Liquor hit South Korean shelves in June 2017. Its domestic sales translates that people of legal drinking age (20) or older, about 30 million, consumed at least three bottles each. This is enough to fill the 5,200-ton Lotteworld Aquarium six times.
Lotte Liquor started exporting Fitz to China last November and subsequently added Australia, Canada, Taiwan and Cambodia.
Fitz's strong domestic sales come amid predictions that imported beer will increasingly replace domestic beer. The latest version of the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement striped tariffs on American beer, starting last January. The same will happen for European beer in July.
"Despite the tariffs on imported beers being dropped, their prices will not dramatically be lowered," said a South Korean beer market analyst. "But from the consumers' perspective, they would be glad to taste diverse kinds of imported beer at prices that have plunged by even a little."
More South Koreans enjoy imported beers nowadays, moving away from the trend of enjoying a mixture of soju and beer in a glass. The custom reportedly began with American blue-collar miners and wharf laborers in the early 1900s, who created "boiler-making" ― mixing different liquors to get drunk quickly at affordable prices.
Imported beers are available in various food marts across South Korea, attracting more consumers interested in enjoying the drinks at home. The beer is more expensive at restaurants or liquor bars.
The surging popularity of imported beers pushed imports to $263 million last year, up 45 percent year-on-year. Exports of domestic beer totaled $112 million during the same period, leaving a beer trade deficit of more than $100 million, the most ever.
The popularity of imported beers has been evident at local festivals based on foreign beer parties. A beer festival in July 2017 at a Namhae County island in South Gyeongsang Province mimicked Oktoberfest in Munich, one of the world's largest beer festivals. The eight-day event attracted a record 110,000 visitors.
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