South Korea's imports of coffee soared nearly 45.1 percent in the first 11 months of 2022 from a year earlier on its growing popularity here, data showed Monday.

The value of the country's coffee imports came to $1.19 billion in the January-November period, up 45.1 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

It marks the first time that South Korea's yearly coffee imports have exceeded $1 billion. Last year's amount was also up 16.7 times from 20 years earlier.

In terms of volume, South Korea's coffee imports reached some 187,790 tons in the 11-month period, up from 171,990 tons a earlier year.

South Korea's coffee imports had been on a steady rise since 2018 as an increasing number of Koreans enjoy the drink.

With coffee consumption surging in Asia's fourth-largest economy, the number of coffee shops has also been rising rapidly.

The country's coffee shops and beverage stores numbered 99,000 as of the end of December, up 17.4 percent from a year earlier and a new all-time high.

From four years earlier, the number was up 102.1 percent, or 50,000 shops. It was far higher than the 80.9 percent increase for Western restaurants, 76.4 percent for Japanese restaurants, 31.3 percent for fried chicken joints and 23.1 percent for fast-food shops.(Yonhap)