S. Korea's hard liquor consumption down 11 pct

South Korea's hard liquor consumption for the first quarter (Q1) of this year shrank as much as 11 percent in the aftermath of the global economic recession.

The nation's hard liquor consumption from January to March this year reached 450,934 boxes, steeply down from 506,449 boxes from the same period a year ago, according to sources in the industry Tuesday. A box contains 18 500-milliliter (ml) bottles of hard liquor.

An acute drop came as consumers have become reluctant to choose expensive hard liquor as a result of economic woe caused by the European economic downturn.

Diageo Korea with the highest market share saw its Windsor sales down 18.1 percent in Q1 this year from 221,049 boxes to 180,947 boxes compared to the same period a year ago.

Pernod Ricard Korea, the second best performer in the hard liquor market, experienced a 7.2 percent drop in its Imperial sales from 137,173 to 127,244 boxes.

Lotte Chinsung also posted a 9.3 on-year fall in its Scotch Blue sales from 86,693 boxes to 78,633 boxes.

Golden Blue was the only one which enjoyed a rise in sales. Sales of Golden Blue stood at 23,224 boxes, a startling 119.4 percent rise from the same period a year ago (10,585 boxes). The fifth place spot went to Valentine whose sales slid 22.7 percent on-year from 22,300 boxes to 17,243 boxes.

[Written by Jae-man Ko - Jieun Lee / edited by Soyoung Chung]

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