Imports of U.S. beef to South Korea rose sharply last year from one year ago, industry data showed Sunday, as the Asian country continues a three-month-long battle to contain foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).
According to the U.S. Meat Export Federation, South Korea imported 84,822 tons of U.S. beef in 2010, up 42.6 percent from one year ago.
The figure outnumbered the overall increase in beef imports to the country, indicating the revived popularity of the American beef, which lost ground in 2008 amid public opposition against U.S. beef imports on mad cow disease fears. The overall beef imports to South Korea rose 16.2 percent last year from 2009, according to the group.
U.S. beef accounted for 32.5 percent of South Korea's imported beef market last year, up 6 percentage points from 2009, it said. American beef also narrowed its gap with Australian beef, which claimed 53 percent of the market in the same year.
In the pork market, the U.S. product was the most popular here. South Korea purchased 75,362 tons of U.S. pork in 2010, accounting for 26.1 percent of the nation's imported pork consumption. Canadian pork was the runner-up with an 18.9 percent share.
Market watchers attributed the rising popularity of U.S. meat in South Korea to the spread of animal diseases that forced the nation to cull over 3 million livestock in the last three months, due to the most severe FMD outbreak in the country's history.
In December, imports of U.S. beef to South Korea spiked to nearly 2,500 tons a week, according to the federation.
The South Korean government estimates that FMD has incurred more than 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion) of damage since the first outbreak of the disease was reported in November.
After conventional quarantine methods of culling animals failed, the local farm ministry has been vaccinating livestock since Dec. 25. There are some 3 million heads of cattle and 10 million pigs in the country.
"As local meat supplies decline due to the FMD and public concerns rise about the disease, South Korea is expected to increase their dependence on imported meat," an industry official said. (Yonhap)
