South Korea's wine imports increased 22 percent from January to June this year than the same period of last year following the expansion of South Korean consumers, the Korea International Trade Association said in a report on Monday.

The wine imports in the first half of this year was valued at 38.88 million U.S. dollars, which kept a continuing double-digit growth for a third consecutive year, said the report.

Experts predicted higher growth rate of wine imports in the second half as there will be major festivals such as Chuseok.

"As wine sales usually increase in the second half, the domestic market is expected to jump about 23 percent to 25 percent for the full year even if the current slowdown of the domestic economy is taken into consideration," said Lee Jong-hun, president of Shindong Wine Co..

Source: Xinhua