South Korean drinks group HiteJinro said on Monday 12 October that it has started brewing Kirin Ichiban Shibori, one of the Japanese brewer’s best-known lagers, in Korea. HiteJinro is the first independent importer in Asia to produce the beer under licence.
Under a technical partnership signed in July, Kirin supplies its core brewing method and its own yeast. Japanese engineers spent more than a year helping to set up HiteJinro’s plant in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, which was built to meet Kirin’s quality standards, so the help covered both the recipe and the plant itself. Chief executive Jang In-seop described local production as “the fruit of 20 years of mutual trust with Kirin” and said the deal moves the relationship from distribution to a strategic alliance on technology and quality. He set out the plan at a press conference at the company’s research centre in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
The practical gain is speed. Beer made in Japan took about six weeks to clear customs and reach Korean stores, while the locally brewed lager should be on shelves within one or two weeks, since it no longer has to pass through customs. Jang said domestic production gives the company a steady supply, and HiteJinro plans to spend the logistics savings on marketing and promotions. The first run is about 1.5 million litres, or 3 million 500-millilitre cans, and the company aims to brew 75 per cent of its Kirin sales in Korea by next year.
The move comes as Japanese beer regains ground in Korea. Imports rose 22 per cent year on year to 100,322 tonnes last year, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Volumes dropped after the 2019 boycott of Japanese goods and started to recover in 2022. HiteJinro first imported Kirin Ichiban Shibori in bottles in 2004, signed an exclusive distribution deal in 2011 and added cans and draught in 2012, so local brewing is the latest step in a relationship that has widened gradually over two decades.
Sales volume of the brand grew by an estimated 82.4 per cent a year from 2020 through 2026, and it set a sales record in 2025 that it is expected to beat this year, before most of the locally brewed volume has reached the market. HiteJinro plans regular technical exchanges with Kirin and wants to extend the partnership to other products and businesses.
