Japanese beer shipments to South Korea stood at 7.9 billion yen last year, accounting for more than 60% of the country’s global exports of the amber nectar.

But the finance ministry in Tokyo said exports had plunged to zero, as the two countries remain locked in a dispute over trade and Japanese war-time atrocities.

Already in September, year-on-year exports had fallen 99%, dealing a blow to Japanese brewers such as Kirin, Asahi and Sapporo.

A Kirin Holdings spokesman declined to comment, saying only: “We are watching developments.”

Exports of Japanese instant noodles and sake to South Korea have also plummeted.

Ties began a downward spiral after a series of South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate war-time forced labour victims.

This infuriated Tokyo, with Japan insisting the matter was settled in a 1965 treaty normalising diplomatic relations between the two countries, which included significant reparations.

The historic dispute morphed into a trade spat between the two market economies, as Japan removed South Korea from a so-called “white list” of countries that enjoyed streamlined export control procedures.

South Korea hit back with similar trade restrictions and a decision to scrap an intelligence-sharing pact, surprising analysts who thought defence ties would be immune from the diplomatic row.

Last week, however, South Korea decided against scrapping the military pact, in a 11th-hour U-turn, and the two countries agreed to hold a summit in China next month.