Industry statistics reveal that growth in the total alcohol market in Korea slowed in 2002 to 6.4%. The total alcohol market was worth some US$6 billion.

Beer accounted for US$2.8 billion of sales, while Soju represented US$1.7 billion of the total. Both the beer and soju sectors showed around 4% growth in 2002. However, whisky sales rose by 15% to US$1.25 billion.