Women in heavy-drinking S.Korea fuel demand for lighter booze

GS Retail

10/09/2015 07:32

* Makers of traditional soju launch fruity low-alcohol 
versions 
    * Wine imports on track to surpass whiskey for first time 
    * Rising share of women in workforce drives change in 
consumption 
    * South Korea: biggest per capita alcohol consumer in 
Asia-Pacific 
 
    By Rebecca Jang 
    SEOUL, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Jeon Seo-jin, 25, finds 
traditional soju, the clear grain-based liquor popular in South 
Korea, too strong for her liking. 
    Instead, to wind down after work as a sales team trainer at 
a cosmetics company in Seoul, she joins her friends for a glass 
of the fruit-flavoured lower-alcohol soju that Korean spirits 
companies began rolling out this year. 
    "It gives you time to enjoy the taste and talk with friends 
- unlike regular soju, which is too strong," said Jeon as she 
shared a drink with a female colleague at Kodachaya, a central 
Seoul bar popular with the young after-work crowd.  
    Professional women like Jeon are driving a change in the way 
beverage companies look at South Korea, which hard-drinking men 
have made Asia's biggest alcohol consuming country on a per 
capita basis. 
    As more women join the workforce in South Korea, a growing 
share of younger women are becoming regular drinkers, shifting  
consumption patterns in a male-dominated society where post-work 
drinking sessions are a staple of office life. Rising incomes 
and a greater interest in health also mean fewer Koreans merely 
seek out the cheapest way to get drunk. 
    Imports of sparkling wine, which is especially popular among 
young Korean women, rose nearly 20 percent in January-July, 
while wine imports overall are on track to surpass those of 
whiskey for the first time this year, customs data shows. 
    "There was pent-up demand for change in flavour and alcohol 
content among South Korean drinkers, especially among females as 
more and more of them join the workforce," said Lee Kyung-ju, an 
analyst at Korea Investment and Securities. 
    In March, Lotte Chilsung Beverages  005300.KS  launched a 
citron-flavoured soju called Soonhari, which means soft, with 14 
percent alcohol, lower than the usual 21 percent. The company 
says it sold 40 million bottles in the first 100 days. 
    Rival Muhak  033920.KS  followed in May with a series of 
low-alcohol fruity soju products whose name translates to "Good 
Day". Hite Jinro  000080.KS , the country's biggest maker of 
alcoholic beverages, joined the trend in June with a grapefruit 
flavoured soju containing 13 percent alcohol. 
    Fruity products helped lift overall soju sales by 7.8 
percent this summer at E-Mart  139480.KS , South Korea's largest 
hypermarket operator, and accounted for 21 percent of all soju 
sales last month at the GS Group's  007070.KS  GS25 convenience 
store chain, the companies said. 
              
    SOJU BOMBS AWAY 
    South Koreans are the biggest consumers of alcohol in the 
Asia-Pacific, imbibing an annual 12.3 litres (3.25 gallons) per 
person, just ahead of Australians, World Health Organisation 
data shows. Official figures valued the market at about $8.4 
billion in 2013, based on factory and import prices. 
    The country's drinking culture is driven by men who 
frequently gather after work for rounds of drinks including 
"soju bombs", or beer mixed with soju. 
    That is changing as more women work and as Koreans choose 
healthier lifestyles. Female employment in South Korea, while 
still low compared with other developed economies, hit a record 
52.6 percent in July. 
    "Company drinking culture has changed. It's not like what we 
see on TV dramas anymore. Nobody forces anybody to drink. People 
make their own decisions on whether to drink more," Jeon said. 
    The share of female drinkers in their 20s who drink more 
than once a month rose by 10.5 percent between 2005 and 2014, 
hitting 62.3 percent, government data showed. 
    The trend towards lower-alcohol and flavoured products is 
global in recent years, driven by changing tastes, health and in 
some places lower prices to offset higher taxes. 
    In March, UK-based Diageo Plc  DGE.L , the world's biggest 
seller of whiskey, rolled out W Ice by Windsor in South Korea. 
The spirit has 35 percent alcohol instead of the usual 40 
percent, and follows Diageo's launch last year in Spain of J&B 
Urban Honey, also with 35 percent alcohol. 
    "Female drinkers tend to prefer more delicate, softer and 
sweeter drinks. Also, old customers these days look for softer 
wines as they are concerned that high alcohol drinks would 
affect their health," said Heung-gyu Park, CEO of Salon Du Vin, 
a wine outlet in Seoul. 
     
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    Graphic  
    South Korean alcohol imports http://link.reuters.com/tyw55w 
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($1 = 1,194.0000 won) 
 
 (Additional reporting by Meeyoung Cho; Editing by Tony Munroe 
and Stephen Coates) 
 ((tony.munroe@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5640; Reuters 
Messaging: tony.munroe.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: SOUTHKOREA SPIRITS/