Imported Beer Shows Double Digit Sales Growth in Hypermarkets [Korean, OSY]

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=101&oid=015&aid=0002866696

Summary: Sales of imported beer in E Mart, the leading hypermarket store chain in Korea, have reportedly recorded over 20 percent growth each month in the first quarter this year.  Lotte Mart also reported over 24 percent sales growth of imported beer during the first quarter this year.  On the other hand, local beer sales have shown over 10 percent decline in the first quarter in Lotte Mart.  Marketers point out that more Korean beer drinkers are choosing imported beer for higher quality and new tastes.  By the way, a bill that proposes (1) allowing micro breweries (2) lowering of liquor tax on micro brew beer (3) mandating minimum 70 percent malt content in beer has been submitted in the National Assembly on April 18.

Korea Ranks 21th in the World for ‘Food Security’ [Korean, OSY]

http://news.donga.com/3/all/20130422/54627671/1

Summary: According to a report by Economist U.K., Korea ranked 21th among 105 countries surveyed around the world for ‘food security’ in 2012.  The U.S. showed the highest food security level in the survey.  Japan ranked 16^th and China ranked 38^th in the survey.  The report indicated that there was a significant gap between Korea and developed countries in terms of average per capita calorie supply (Korea ranked 37^th at 3,074 Kcal per day), food safety (32^nd), food diversity (41^st), and food quality (23 ^rd).