Half of Imported American Beef in Storage
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
American beef was shut out of South Korea for five years, but it only took three months for the country to become the No. 1 U.S. meat importer since imports ban were lifted in June, according to data. But for ordinary consumers ― who rarely encounter American cuts ― the figure is hard to believe, as they wonder: where's the beef?
Restaurants and large food catering companies claim that they don't use it and major retailers don't carry any either, but the amount of shipments that crossed borders in September totaled $89.24 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wednesday. This is more than exports to Mexico and Canada, the second and third largest buyers of U.S. beef.
Domestic imports say the answer is simple ― giant stockpiles of American meat are sitting in customs and quarantine storage facilities, waiting to be consumed.
``I've been importing 50 tons of beef from the U.S. every month since June, but I'm planning to roll back to 30 tons because I can't continue to pile up inventory,'' says one Seongnam-based importer, who asked not to be named.
According to the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service, U.S. beef that cleared customs since September reached 32,628 tons since September, but market experts estimate that almost 50 percent of that is still in storage.
So why are buyers continuing to stock up?
Most say that they're anticipating a surge in demand once large retailers, such as E-Mart, Lotte Mart and Homeplus, resume sales of American beef.
These outlets have suspended sales over concerns that the negative publicity may hurt their corporate image as a whole. A new import deal signed in April sparked massive protests here, prompting Seoul and Washington to limit imports to meat from animals under 30 months old. The rules went into effect on June 26.
Hopes are high, but top retailers ― importers' biggest consumers ― don't seem to be budging just yet.
Park Chang-kyu, who heads the local meat importers' association, says the reality is that they only have 400 meat butcher's shop and 700 restaurants that regularly buy American products.
``We are seeing a lot of restaurants showing more interest, but we really need those big distributors to open up to clear out our stockpiles,'' he said, confident that once sales resume, however, the inventory will quickly sell out.
The USDA report showed that shipments to Seoul in September took up 28 percent of the monthly total. For the entire year so far, South Korea came in fourth after Mexico, Canada and Japan, by importing a total of $158.46 million worth of beef. This is considered high, given that the country imported none during the first half of the year.