Starbucks Korea Co., local subsidiary of global coffee giant Starbucks Corp. is expected to post full-year sales of 1 trillion won ($854.8 million) this year for the first among coffee chains in the coffee-loving country.

According to Shinsegae Group and coffee industry sources on Tuesday, Starbucks Korea reportedly said at a recent senior executives’ meeting that the coffee chain’s sales are expected to rise 30 percent on year to record more than 1 trillion won this year.

Emart Inc., the parent of Starbucks Korea, said in a disclosure statement on Monday that Starbucks Korea’s July-September period sales rose 30 percent on year to 715.3 billion won. For the full year in 2015, the coffee chain registered 773.9 billion won in sales.

If the coffee company maintains its upward momentum, it is almost certain that Starbucks Korea will register full-year sales of 1 trillion won this year, market experts said. This year’s full-year sales will even reach 1.6 trillion won if its sales continue to expand at 30 percent, the average growth rate until the third quarter this year. The October-December period is coffee companies’ peak season in Korea with high seasonal demand driven by cold winter weather and promotional Christmas events at local coffee stores.

When Starbucks does record 1 trillion won in annual sales this year, it will be the first one among coffee chains in Korea, and one of about 20 food and beverages companies with annual sales exceeding 1 trillion won. Ediya Coffee Co. that operates the largest number of coffee shops in the country posted mere 500 billion won in its net sales, inclusive of retail sales amount from its franchisee coffee shops and sales from its headquarters. Eidya Coffee reportedly aims to record 1 trillion won in sales in 2020.

On top of its astonishing sales achievement, Starbucks Korea is expected to celebrate the opening of its 1,000th coffee shop in Korea. It will be another milestone as a large-sized coffee chain operator in the country where foreign food names have particularly hard time beating local players. As of the end of October, Starbucks Korea runs more than 950 shops across the country.

Shares of Emart finished Tuesday at 180,000 won, down 2,000 won or 1.1 percent from the previous session.

By Sohn Il-seon and Lee Sae-bom

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