S. Korea’s coffee imports top 2 trillion won for first time in 2025

SEOUL, 25th January, 2026 (WAM) — South Korea imported over 2 trillion won (US$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.

According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp., coffee imports reached 2.65 trillion won in 2025, a 41 percent increase from 2024, Yonhap News Agency reported.

In dollars, the country’s coffee imports jumped 35 % 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 tonnes from a year earlier to 215,792 tonnes in 2025, according to the data.