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By Oh Young-jin
Staff Reporter
Pork is often called poor man's beef. No longer, at least for now.
Amid a mad cow scare sweeping the nation ahead of the resumption of U.S. beef imports, some big retail outlets are reporting slumping beef sales, the gap being filled by rising sales of pork.
The ``porky supremacy'' is being reinforced by raging avian influenza that is keeping health-conscious consumers away from poultry, a favored alternative to beef.
``The mad cow scare is keeping our beef sales at bay,'' Han Sang-yon, a salesman at a branch of Lotte Mart in Chamsil, southern Seoul. Lotte Mart sells beef from indigenous cattle and imports from Australia.
Han said that his outlet doesn't plan to import U.S. beef even after the ban is lifted later this month and Korea fully opens its beef market. Currently, a prime surloin cut of domestic beef goes for 10,800 won or about $10 per 100 grams and the equal amount of tenderloin for about 10,800 won in Shinsegae Department Store. Australian beef being sold in the same department store is priced at 5,600 won for a 100-gram surloin and 5,900 won for tenderloin. U.S. beef, when imported, would be competitively priced so, according to industry watchers, U.S. beef would take the lion's share on the domestic market.
In its network wide survey of 111 outlets, E-Mart reported a rise in pork sales of 33 tons or 39.2 percent to 117 tons in the first week of May, compared with a month ago.
In the corresponding period, a vernacular Chosun Ilbo survey said that the price of pork strips, the favorite cut among Koreans, went up 15 percent to 1,950 won, about $2 per 100 grams. Pork accounted for 35.7 percent of total meat sales, beating beef, which stood at 34.3 percent. In May last year, pork sales stood at 27.9 percent.
In the same year-to-year comparison, poultry sales nose-dived from 9.2 percent to 4.3 percent, obviously affected by the spreading bird flu that has reached the capital city.
``Beef sales fell,'' said a salesman at Homeever, another nationwide retailer without providing figures. He, however, noted that consumers' preference shifts from beef to pork ahead of and in summer when they more often go outdoors for picnics.
If restaurants are not feeling the impact of the mad cow scare, they are bracing for the fallout.
``We are trying to tell our customers that we only serve Korean beef,'' said an employee of Daedo Restaurant in Nonhyon-dong, southern Seoul, an eatery that specializes in beef surloin. She asked for anonymity because she spoke without the authorization of her employer.
``I understand that our boss is considering putting out a banner saying that our shop doesn't serve American food,'' she said.
Meanwhile, in a quirky development related to the spreading bird flu, some beer halls are abuzz with customers who enjoy friend chicken.
``It is one in a million chance to contract a bird flu,'' one patron at a bar in downtown Seoul. ``I take it as a chance to get royal treatment in this restaurant which otherwise would have been crowded with customers.''
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