▲ Tsingtao beer is on display at a supermarket in downtown Seoul on the 23rd amidst controversy after a video was exposed of a person urinating on raw materials from a factory producing Tsingtao Beer, one of China’s four major beers. Yonhap News Chinese beer sales in Korea are plummeting after a video was released showing an employee urinating on raw materials at China’s Qingdao beer factory. On the other hand, Japanese and American beers are enjoying significant benefits. Chinese beer, which ranked first among all imported beers last year due to the ‘No Japan’ (boycott of Japanese products), is expected to take a big hit due to this controversy.
According to the liquor industry on the 29th, since the ‘urinating beer’ controversy spread on the 21st, Qingdao sales at convenience stores have plummeted by at least 20% to as much as 40% compared to last week. Tsingtao beer sales (as of October 26) decreased by 41.3% at convenience store A, and by 30.6% at convenience store B.
Tsingtao beer has been a popular product among convenience store canned beers, ranking 3rd to 5th in sales, but was pushed out of the top 5 after the urination incident. As of September this year, Chinese beer was imported at $27 million (approximately 37 billion won), ranking third after Japan and the Netherlands.
The US (USD 12.69 million), Poland (USD 11.85 million), Germany (USD 10.85 million), and Ireland (USD 10.21 million) had the largest import volume in that order, but it seems inevitable that Chinese beer will be hit by this incident.
▲ A worker urinates on raw materials at Tsingtao Beer Factory 3. Hongseong Newspaper capture Instead, sales of Japanese, American, and Dutch beers such as Asahi, Budweiser, and Heineken have increased by more than 20%, filling the void in Tsingtao one after another.
Tsingtao Beer, which ranked 3rd in sales at convenience stores A, slipped to 7th place and was replaced by Budweiser from the United States and Heineken from the Netherlands. Sales of Japan’s Asahi, which ranks second, also increased by 20.4%. At Convenience Store B, sales of American Budweiser (33.1%) and Belgian Stella (35.8%) increased during the same period. At Convenience Store C, American Budweiser (3rd place) and Netherlands Heineken (4th place) rose to the top, and Asahi sales also increased by 10%.
An industry insider said, “During the ‘No Japan’ period in the past, the boycott of Japanese beer lasted for more than two years. There are many substitute products for imported beer, so if there are no issues to change the atmosphere, the trend of consumers turning away from Tsingtao beer will remain for the time being. “It appears that this will continue,” he predicted.
Reporter Choi Jae-heon
2023-10-29 08:45:31
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