January 8, 2009
South Korean beef farmers struggle on domestic sales
South Korea's beef cattle farmers are having difficulty in selling their animals as the domestic market is flooded with beef imports.
Local farmers are facing tight competition from the US, Australia, New Zealand and Uruguay. The cheap US beef has price advantage; Australia is trying to hold onto its market share; New Zealand is promoting its grass fed beef; and Uruguay is selling its grass fed beef.
The number of traditional hanwoo cattle and other types of local cattle has dropped 2.7 percent to 2.43 million. The number of small cattle breeding farms is 181,000, meaning each small farm has an average of about 13 head of cattle.
However, the number of dairy cows has increased by 1.2 percent, in the same period as farmers moved from beef to dairy. There are nearly 500,000 head of dairy cows in South Korea.
