Beef imports hit record-high

By Lee Hyo-sik

Korea’s imports of foreign beef rose to an all-time high in 2015 as consumers sought cheaper alternatives to cuts of meat from hanwoo, Korea’s native cattle, government data showed Wednesday. Consumers here are expected to consume more imported beef this year in line with rising hanwoo prices.

The country imported beef from Australia, the United States and other countries, worth $1.82 billion, up 8.5 percent from $1.67 billion in 2014. This is the largest amount spent on imported beef since 1995 when the Korea Customs Service began compiling such data.

By weight, a total of 295,369 tons of beef was imported into the country last year, up 5.6 percent from 2014.

By country, Australia accounted for 56.6 percent of Korea’s imported beef, valued at $973 million, followed by the United States at 41.3 percent and New Zealand at 4.3 percent. Korea also bought beef from Canada and Uruguay.

According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI), hanwoo prices have jumped to the highest level since 2010 when large numbers of beef cattle here were culled following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

Prices of home-grown beef have been rising over the past few years in line with the declining number of beef cattle. In June 2015, the number stood at 2.65 million nationwide, down from 2.78 million in June 2014 and 2.94 million in June 2013.

“We expect hanwoo prices will continue to head upward this year as farmers breed fewer cattle,” a KREI researcher said. “As a result, more consumers opt to consume cheaper imported beef and this will increase the import volume.”