By Jane Han
Staff Reporter

Starting the end of this week, U.S. beef will once again be on local grocery store shelves, but unfriendly consumer sentiment is clouding expectations regarding whether South Korea will live up to its name as the third-largest importer of American beef.

In major discount stores in downtown Seoul, Monday, meat sections ― which used to be one of the busiest corners of a grocery store ― were often empty with shoppers showing little or no interest in buying any beef at all.

``All this fuss about U.S. beef is working as a repellant to eating any meat, regardless of its origin,'' said 46-year-old Kim Mi-sook, who mostly filled her cart with vegetables and fish, at an E-Mart outlet in central Seoul.

Asked whether she was looking forward to buying ``L.A. galbi'' (short ribs), she said, ``Not with this mad cow scare still unresolved.''

Another shopper, 34-year-old Yoon Kyung-mi said the recent slaughterhouse photos and meatpacking processing stories being frequently aired on TV had made her lose her once ``beef-loving appetite.''

``I'll probably end up eating all parts of U.S. beef again, but not anytime in the near future,'' she said.

Domestic retailers are looking to follow the pace of consumers like Yoon, who aren't immediately open to buying the controversial imports immediately, but will give in eventually.

The nation's biggest hypermarket chains, including E-Mart, Lotte Mart and Homeplus, said they will not be offering American beef to their shoppers until public sentiment softens.

``We think hastily resuming sales will only hurt our image in the long run,'' said an official of Lotte Mart, which already suffered a backlash for being the first to sell U.S. products after a partial resumption last year.

These hypermarkets said meat sales have dipped about 10-20 percent over the past month, citing the recent candlelit vigils against importing American beef as the reason.

Neighborhood shops also seem to be stalling for time, as they feel the hurried resumption of sales will lead to unwanted resentment among local consumers.

``There's no reason to rush,'' said an owner of a small butcher's shop in Ichon-dong, central Seoul. ``I can always start selling again when there is moderate demand.''

Other meat shops throughout the city shared common thoughts about when they should resume selling U.S. beef.

Although giant groceries and butcher shops are hesitant, importers say their main group of consumers is restaurants nationwide, as they take up almost 70 percent of sales.

``Restaurants will be the first to start massive consumption,'' said Park Chang-kyu, the president of A-Meat, a major beef importer, who added that discounters and other outlets will also follow suit. ``It's just a matter of time.''

The U.S. Meat Export Federation said closure of the South Korean market since 2003 has cost U.S. beef exporters between $3.5-$4 billion. It said in a recent report that American exporters are expecting to sell about 390,000 tons of beef to South Korea in 2014.

This is almost double the amount imported in 2003, before American products were first banned due to a case of mad cow disease in the United States.

jhan@koreatimes.co.kr