By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
U.S. beef is rapidly eating into the South Korean market. The total volume of U.S. beef imports has increased more than 10 times in the past couple of months and the number of large distributors dealing with the American beef has also neared to 20.
With the country set to discuss new standards for the beef imports with the United States as early as next month, the agony of local stockbreeders is expected to deepen further when the full-scale imports including bone-in beef such as ribs resume.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Wednesday, U.S. beef imports rose more than 10 times since July 16, compared with the previous two-month period.
A total of 13,376 tons of U.S. beef were brought into South Korea as of Sept. 19 since it resumed imports in late April, three years and five months after it had imposed a ban following the discovering of a case of mad cow disease in the U.S. in late 2003.
Of the total, 11,823 tons cleared customs and another 1,307 tons were undergoing quarantine inspections, while the remaining 246 tons were returned or destroyed as they failed to clear the inspections, according to the government data.
South Korea had imposed a total ban on U.S. beef imports after the confirmation of a case of mad cow disease in December 2003. It partially lifted the ban later, allowing the import of only boneless beef from cattle aged less than 30 months.
But private U.S. meat packaging facilities have shipped banned parts such as ribs and backbone, which are classified as ``specific risk materials (SRMs).’’ Seoul temporarily halted import inspections several times in the past few months.
South Korea is expected to allow the import of bone-in U.S. beef, possibly within this year, giving in to pressure from the U.S. ahead of the ratification of the free trade agreement (FTA), which was concluded in April and formally signed in June.
Nonghyup, or the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF), said on Sept. 14 that the price of Korean beef cattle _ more often called ``hanwoo’’ here _ have dropped to a record low this month, affected by increased imports of U.S. beef.
As of Sept. 11, the on-site price of a female calf was hovering at around 2.05 million won ($2,200), down 26.5 percent from the 2.79 million won around the end of last year, according to Nonghyup.
Government offices, however, even refused to make public the reasons why it resumed quarantine inspections of U.S. beef last month amid repeated detection of some banned products in the shipment.
According to Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) earlier this month, after its request for the information the reformist lawyers’ group was notified that the government could not comply with its requests since it could ``harm national interests.’’
Before the import ban, South Korea was one of the major importers of U.S. beef, bringing in about 200,000 tons in 2003, some 60 percent of which included ribs and other bone-in beef.
jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr
