(LEAD) South Korea becomes largest export market for U.S. beef : report
Written by Meenaa on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
(LEAD) South Korea becomes largest export market for U.S. beef : report
SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) — South Korea became the largest export market for U.S. beef in September as local buyers moved to stockpile the meat in anticipation of greater demand down the road, a report said Wednesday.
The report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed exports to South Korea reaching US$89.24 million or 28 percent of the total for the cited month.
The top ranking comes just three months after Seoul lifted its ban on U.S. beef imposed in late 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was reported.
A new import deal signed in April sparked massive protests by concerned consumers here, prompting Seoul and Washington to limit imports to meat from animals under 30 months old. The rules went into effect on June 26.
The USDA report showed shipments sent to South Korea exceeded those for Mexico and Canada, the second and third largest importers of U.S. beef, and the $29.70 million bought by Japan, which had been the largest market in Asia this year.
Mexico imported $77.91 million worth of U.S. beef, while Canada bought $58.93 million in September.
Mexico was the largest importer in terms of volume at 18,046 tons in the month, compared to 16,642 tons for South Korea, although exports to the latter were more expensive, premium cuts that fetched higher prices.
For the whole of this year, South Korea came in fourth after Mexico, Canada and Japan by importing a total of $158.46 million worth of U.S. beef. The import amount is high, given that the country imported no U.S. beef for the first six months of the year.
On the sharp September increase, the local office of the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) said many importers have started stockpiling meat in the event that major retail outlets and department stores decide to sell U.S. beef.
Large retailers have not sold U.S. beef out of concerns for negative publicity and possible protests by civic groups, but there have been recent moves to reevaluate this stance.
“This explains the surge in import orders and the limited number of local stores and restaurants that handle U.S. beef,” a USMEF spokesperson said. He added that most of the meat imported so far is still in storage.
Others said that importers had signed import orders in advance, not guessing that discount outlets and department stores would not handle beef for so long.
In a related development, the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service (NVRQS) said that as of Tuesday, U.S. beef that has cleared customs since September reached 32,628 tons versus 22,400 tons for Australian beef, which had been the most popular in the country since 2004.
The NVRQS, meanwhile, said that 31.4 tons of U.S. beef has been rejected from late June until October.
“Those that have failed to meet import requirements have either been sent back or have been destroyed,” an inspector said.
He said that the single largest reason for the rejection was lack of proper inspection papers, followed by the violation of sanitary conditions outlined in the revised import rules. These two reasons accounted for 28.2 tons.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
