{"id":24050,"date":"2026-01-02T09:49:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?p=24050"},"modified":"2026-01-02T09:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:52:10","slug":"coffee-industry-of-korea-groans-over-cup-receipts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2026\/01\/02\/coffee-industry-of-korea-groans-over-cup-receipts\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee industry of Korea groans over cup receipts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>South Korea with its millennium of beverage-drinking culture is contemplating surcharging disposable cups that serve coffee, amid hospitality industry hostility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On January 2, 2026, the government hosted a \u2018Cup Price Display System\u2019 agenda mandating caf\u00e9s to include prices of cups on coffee receipts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a bid by the Ministry of Climate, Energy &amp; Environment to reduce waste, affiliate receipts for takeaway cups ought to accompany beverage purchase bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If a coffee costs 4,500 Korean won ($3.11), some 4,300 won ($2.91) would bill the drink and the extra 200 won ($0.14)&nbsp;<em>the<\/em>&nbsp;cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Due to its wild popularity, coffee commands 1\/3<sup>rd<\/sup>&nbsp;national market share among beverages and fosters tens of thousands of caf\u00e9s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Caf\u00e9 operators are resisting the new policy as costly, citing high closure numbers and rising&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/coffee\/\"><u>international coffee prices<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the end of 2025, 12,000 coffee shops had shut down in the country due to steep import costs for coffee beans, per&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chosun.com\/english\/market-money-en\/2026\/01\/02\/ZZYO54DM7RDR7K6KMP7EL5CWIU\/\"><u>Chosun<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;news.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>International coffee bean prices notably fell by 0.5% day-on-day on December 31, 2025 to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/markets.businessinsider.com\/commodities\/coffee-price?op=1\"><u>$3.48&nbsp;<\/u><\/a>a pound. But they were still 8.61% dearer than in the corresponding timeline in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-costly-for-restaurant-businesses\"><strong>Costly for Restaurant Businesses &nbsp;<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Given its prominence as the 12<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;biggest world importer of coffee beans, as of 2024, South Korea feels the price sting during volatility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The change to the new receipt system will therefore bring additional costs to caf\u00e9s over the already high import rates.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to a restauranteur, altering receipt printing defaults at point of sale systems (POS) and installing new kiosk equipment necessitates hiring expensive vendors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another fall out is that the system will have customers querying why they are being billed for cups, antagonizing them with small businesses.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some feel that even if coffee prices depreciate, consumers will still react negatively to seeing bills for disposable cups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Luckily, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is deliberating the policy in partnership with the environment ministry to reduce the small business burden. The following stats put caf\u00e9 business and consumption in the context of the Korea coffee industry at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-south-korea-coffee-industry-statistics\"><strong>South Korea Coffee Industry&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Statistics&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>South Korea is nicknamed \u2018Coffee Republic\u2019 because of its strong coffee consumption culture. The country had over 100,000 caf\u00e9s selling beverages like coffee in 2023. National coffee consumption levels are at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.teaandcoffee.net\/feature\/34173\/south-koreas-coffee-market-optimistic-yet-intensely-competitive\/\"><u>405 cups<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;per person per year, the second highest worldwide. Conversely, the global coffee consumption per capita averages 152 cups. So popular is the drink in the peninsula that it has a domestic beverage market share of 30.8%, ahead of carbonated drinks with 25.5% share.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The country imports around&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.koreatimes.co.kr\/business\/20251008\/koreas-coffee-bean-imports-spike-13-year-on-year-in-2024\"><u>194,809 tonnes&nbsp;<\/u><\/a>of raw and roasted coffee beans a year (2024). This is about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldstopexports.com\/coffee-imports-by-country\/\"><u>2.4%<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;of the worldwide coffee bean import trade, the 12<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;highest globally and 2<sup>nd<\/sup>&nbsp;highest in Asia after Japan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How much coffee bean value does Korea import annually?<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of 2024, Korea was importing $1.24 billion in coffee beans, up from 2023\u2019s $1.1 billion, according to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.koreatimes.co.kr\/business\/20251008\/koreas-coffee-bean-imports-spike-13-year-on-year-in-2024\"><u>Korea Times<\/u><\/a>. The table below keys in sample historical data:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Year<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Im<\/strong><strong>port Value&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2024<\/td><td>$1.24&nbsp;billion<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2023<\/td><td>$1.1&nbsp;billion<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2022<\/td><td>$1.3&nbsp;billion<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fig:\u00a0<em>coffee bean import value by South Korea, 2022-24<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Does Korea produce tea to supplant coffee?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As compensation for negligible coffee production, Korea produces decent amounts of tea, whose history goes back 1,000 years. In 2024, tea leaf production reached a 5-year high of 18,400 tonnes, according to the<a href=\"#data\/QCL\"><u>\u00a0FAOSTAT<\/u><\/a>. Green tea output in the Far-East country also topped 4,185 tonnes in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korea with its millennium of beverage-drinking culture is contemplating surcharging disposable cups that serve coffee, amid hospitality industry hostility. On January 2, 2026, the government hosted a \u2018Cup Price Display System\u2019 agenda mandating caf\u00e9s to include prices of cups on coffee receipts. In a bid by the Ministry of Climate, Energy &amp; Environment to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v16.3 (Yoast SEO v20.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Coffee industry of Korea groans over cup receipts - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2026\/01\/02\/coffee-industry-of-korea-groans-over-cup-receipts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Coffee industry of Korea groans over cup receipts - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Korea with its millennium of beverage-drinking culture is contemplating surcharging disposable cups that serve coffee, amid hospitality industry hostility. 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