Sales of whisky in South Korea dropped more than 10 percent in the first 10 months of this year from the same period of last year, industry sources said Monday.
Sales reached 1,497,613 boxes in the January-October period, down 12.4 percent from 1,709,679 boxes tallied in the corresponding period of 2012. Each box contains 18 bottles of 500 milliliters of whiskey.
They attributed the drop to a prolonged economic slump facing the country.
Diageo Korea, the local operation of the world’s largest whiskey maker based in Britain, retained its top spot by selling 578,662 boxes, down 11.8 percent from 655,803 boxes a year ago.
Diageo saw sales of its flagship brand Windsor decrease 14.7 percent to 504,814 boxes during the cited period.
Pernod Ricard Korea, the South Korean unit of France's Pernod Ricard Group, producer of Chivas Regal and Ballantine, ranked second with 452,763 boxes sold, down 19.3 percent from a year earlier.
Lotte Chilsung Beverage, South Korea-based maker of Scotch Blue, is no exception. Its sales fell 16.2 percent to 240,879 boxes during the cited period.
One of the sources said, "Consumption of whisky continued to fall in the January-October period because of a protracted economic downturn and the popularity of the ‘poktanju (bomb-drink),’ a mixture of soju (Korean spirits) and beer. The downward trend will likely continue.”
