December 22, 2024

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Visitors line up to sample soju at the HiteJinro booth during the All Points East Festival held at Victoria Park in London, from Aug. 16 to 25. (HiteJinro)

South Korea's top soju maker HiteJinro is intensifying its efforts to penetrate the European market, where soju is rapidly gaining popularity and increasingly integrated into local cultural activities.

The company announced on Friday that it served as an official sponsor for this year's All Points East, a prominent music festival in the UK held at London's Victoria Park, from Aug. 16 to 25.

First held in 2018, APE features world-class musicians and attracts over 200,000 attendees each year, of which more than 60 percent are millennials and Generation Z on average. HiteJinro has been sponsoring the festival since 2022, according to the company.

At the festival, HiteJinro set up an exclusive booth to showcase its soju products, offering Chamisul and five varieties of fruit liqueur at ten bars. Various game events, including photo zones and prize draws, were held to promote Jinro's status as a leading Korean soju brand, the company said.

Over the past three years, HiteJinro's soju exports to the UK have recorded growth of about 75 percent annually. In 2023, the company experienced an impressive growth rate of about 84 percent, compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, starting in February, HiteJinro introduced the five fruit varieties to 29 Costco stores across the UK.

A few months later in May, the company expanded their presence by offering "Jinro Green Grape" and "Jinro Plum" products in 91 Morrison stores, one of the top five supermarket chains in the UK. By July, they had introduced the two popular products to 502 Tesco locations, further aiming to boost foreign sales.

"As the country's largest all-around liquor company that is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, we are seeing strong sales performance across the UK and Europe," said Hwang Jeong-ho, executive director of HiteJinro's overseas business division. "We are accelerating the popularization of Jinro beyond just the globalization of soju. We are committed to growing and localizing Jinro in the UK market and striving to establish it as a popular brand in the future."

HiteJinro currently exports to around 30 European countries and is partnering with local restaurant chains to introduce soju in an accessible manner, alongside its retail distribution efforts.

Visitors at the 2024 All Points East festival in London pose holding Hite Jinro's fruit liqueur products at the company's booth. (HiteJinro)

By Kim Hae-yeon (hykim@heraldcorp.com)