South Korean wine imports reached a record $330 million in 2020, up 27 percent from 2019. Imports from the United States totaled $56 million, up 65 percent. Wine grew in popularity during the pandemic as people choose wine as a beverage of choice for drinking at home. The increase in young wine consumers and the growing popularity of wine will likely generate additional growth opportunities for U.S. wine in Korea in coming years.

Korea has a strong food processing industry that manufactures a wide variety of food and beverage products. It relies heavily on imports for ingredients. As a result, the Korean food processing industry offers an outstanding opportunity for imported agricultural products for processing use, including basic commodities such as wheat and soybeans, intermediate ingredients such as vegetable oils and fruit juice concentrates, and food additives such as flavors and coloring agents. The food processing industry generated 76 trillion Korean Won ($65.2 billion) in sales in 2019, up four percent from 2018.