France, US and Italy command two-thirds of South Korea’s wine market by value

South Korea imported 27.6 million liters of wine in the first half of 2026, down 0.8% from a year earlier, while the value of those purchases fell 4.7% to €184.2 million, according to data from the Korea Trade Statistics Promotion Institute analyzed by Spain’s Wine Interprofessional Organization, known as OIVE. The average import price slipped 3.9% to €6.67 a liter. Compared with the first half of 2025, the market bought 232,000 fewer liters and spent about €9 million less, a sign that the slowdown came more from softer prices than from a sharp drop in demand.

France kept its lead as South Korea’s top wine supplier by value. French shipments reached €70.7 million in the January-to-June period, up 2.6% from a year earlier. The United States held second place at €27.6 million, down 5.4%, and Italy remained third at €23.2 million, down 7.6%. Together, those three countries accounted for nearly 66% of the value of South Korea’s imported wine market in the first six months of the year.

Behind them, Chile posted one of the sharpest declines among major suppliers. Its sales to South Korea fell 20.2% in value to €16.4 million. New Zealand also lost ground, down 11.9% to €14 million. Spain was steady in value terms at €13.2 million, which kept it in sixth place by revenue, just ahead of Australia at €7.5 million and Germany at €3.7 million. Argentina was one of the few countries to post a gain, rising 4.5% to €2.69 million. Japan increased 17.5% to €608,521, and Hong Kong more than doubled to €500,280, though both remained small suppliers in absolute terms.

The ranking changes when the market is measured by volume rather than value. Spain moved into first place by volume in the first half of 2026, overtaking Chile with 6.3 million liters shipped to South Korea, a 13.1% increase from a year earlier. Spain exported about 700,000 more liters than in the same period of 2025. OIVE said that rise was driven mainly by bulk wine, whose shipments jumped 62.5%, or roughly 1.1 million liters, and which carries a lower average price than bottled wine.

Chile dropped to second place by volume after its exports to South Korea fell 16% to 4.9 million liters. France ranked third by volume at 4.1 million liters, down 2.7%, while Italy placed fourth with 3.15 million liters, down 12%. The gap between Spain’s first-place ranking in volume and sixth-place ranking in value points to a lower average selling price for Spanish wine in South Korea than the market average.

That price effect shaped the broader market. South Korea’s import bill fell faster than its volumes, and the average price dropped by €0.27 a liter from the first half of last year. France stood out as the main exception among the top suppliers, managing to increase sales value even as the market weakened overall. The United States and Italy, both large premium suppliers, lost ground in value, while Chile was hit in both value and volume.

Looking across a longer 12-month period, the market still showed mixed signals. In the 12 months through June 2026, South Korea imported 56.2 million liters of wine, up 1.3%, but the value of those imports fell 9.2% to €375.5 million. That meant the market bought about 740,000 more liters than in the previous 12-month period but spent €38 million less. The figures suggest that importers continued to replenish volumes while shifting toward lower-priced products or negotiating at lower prices.

The longer trend helps explain why exporters continue to watch South Korea closely. OIVE’s analysis shows that the value of South Korean wine imports climbed almost without interruption from late 2020 through the 12 months ending in February 2023, when the market reached a record €560 million. Since then, the trend in value has moved downward. Volume followed a slightly different path. It continued rising until the 12 months ending in February 2022, when imports hit a series high of 77.2 million liters. Volumes then declined to 52 million liters in the 12 months ending in July 2024 before starting to recover.

Even with the weaker start to 2026, South Korea remains one of the faster-growing wine import markets over the past decade. Compared with 2015, the country imported €213.6 million more wine and 56.5 million more liters in 2025. That long expansion helps explain why France, the United States and Italy still command most of the market’s value, and why Spain continues to push for volume growth even at lower prices.