By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter

Farmers are raising more ``hanwoo,'' Korea's homebred cattle, on rising demand even though prices are higher than imported beef from the U.S. and Australia, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO) Wednesday.

The suspension of U.S. beef imports as a result of a failure to meet Korea's quarantine requirements last year has also boosted the consumption of hanwoo, encouraging more local ranchers to breed the native cattle.

The statistical office said the number of hanwoo reached 2.08 million nationwide as of the end of March, up 11.3 percent from a year earlier. Including other types of cattle raised here, the total number increased 9.7 percent to 2.24 million.

The number of households breeding cattle fell 1.1 percent over the one-year period but each livestock farmer raised an average of 11.9 cattle, up from 10.8 a year ago. The price of a bull hanwoo weighing 600kg remained unchanged at 4.68 million won from the previous year.

But the number of milk cows declined 2.4 percent to 450,000 across the country. Also, livestock raisers have become reluctant to breed hogs on surging feed costs in the wake of high international grain prices.

The number of pigs raised in the country totaled 8.98 million last month, down 3.9 percent from a year earlier. The price of a pig weighing 100kg fell to 194,000 won from 197,000 won in December.

The number of chickens bred for eggs rose 2.3 percent to 57.8 million in March from the same month last year, while chickens raised
for meat stood at 67 million, up 5.8 percent.

The wholesale price for an egg increased to 102 won from 72.2 won during the one-year period, while the price of chicken per kg jumped to 1,460 won from 1,072 won.

leehs@koreatimes.co.kr