South Korea’s KRW 3.7 Trillion Coffee Market: What Is Driving Growth and Where Operators Can Adapt

South Korea's coffee market was worth more than KRW 3.7 trillion in 2024. That figure comes from a joint study of the domestic coffee industry and consumption trends, released on August 11 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Rural Economic Institute. The total alone doesn't say much. The useful part is how the growth splits up: roasted beans are growing much faster than coffee overall, premium and budget buying are rising together, and the government now treats coffee as an export category. International readers following Asian food service and retail can take each of these as a separate signal about where demand is heading.

A market above KRW 3.7 trillion: the headline numbers

According to the ministry and the institute, the Korean coffee market grew 35.6% between 2018 and 2024. That works out to an average of 5.2% a year over six years, which brought the total past KRW 3.7 trillion.

This is steady growth, not a boom. In a market many observers already consider crowded, it suggests coffee has become a routine purchase rather than a passing trend. For operators, the more useful question is which parts of the market are growing faster than that 5.2% average.

Roasted beans are growing roughly three times faster than the market

The clearest answer is roasted coffee. The study puts roasted coffee, including coffee beans, at KRW 1.32 trillion in 2024, with average annual growth of 15.8% over six years. That is about three times the 5.2% average for the whole market.

It is tempting to credit home brewing alone, but the headline figures don't show who buys the beans. Buyers could be households, offices or cafes restocking their own supply. What the numbers do show is that beans themselves have become a major source of value. That matters for bean retail, subscription models and roaster-supply businesses as well as for coffee sold by the cup.

Premium and value are expanding at the same time

The study also describes two tracks of demand. Demand for specialty coffee rose alongside the growth of low-price coffee chains and bulk-size products. The researchers describe this as premium and value-oriented consumption expanding at the same time.

Our reading, not the study's, is that Korean coffee buyers are not simply trading up or trading down. The same market is rewarding carefully sourced specialty cups and cheap, large-format coffee at once. For positioning, that probably means a clear identity at either end is easier to defend than a vague middle, though the study itself does not measure how mid-priced offerings are doing.

Imports, exports and the K-Food Plus policy push

Korea grows almost none of its own coffee, so supply depends on imports. The study reports coffee bean imports of 204,841 tons in 2024, up 5.8% from the year before. Exports of coffee-related products rose 4.6% to USD 229.6 million.

The study also highlights roasted beans leaving the country: overseas shipments jumped 46.8% year on year in May of the previous year. That figure covers a single month, not a full year, so it is better read as a sign of momentum than as a measure of export scale.

Policy is heading the same way. The ministry says it plans to bring food technology into coffee production and distribution and to promote coffee as a main export under K-Food Plus. That initiative combines agri-food products with agro-industry items such as smart farms, farming equipment, pet food and veterinary medical products.

What operators and suppliers should watch

The points below are editorial suggestions, not findings from the study. Cafe chains and independent shops may want to check whether bean sales, whether whole-bean retail, ground packs or supply to other businesses, deserve more shelf space and staff attention, since that segment is growing much faster than the overall market.

Pricing strategy is the second area to watch. With specialty and value demand rising together, operators could benefit from checking whether their menu, cup sizes and sourcing story clearly fit one of those two paths. Retailers stocking coffee could apply the same logic to bulk formats versus premium single-origin lines.

For roasters, equipment makers and distributors, the government's food-tech and export plans may open doors in processing, logistics and overseas sales. How much support will actually follow is still unclear. One limitation also matters: the published figures do not break the market down by franchise chains, independent cafes or ready-to-drink and instant coffee. Operators should check the study's numbers against their own sales data before making major decisions.

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