March 5, 2012

Due to fall in local animal population because of the outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease, South Korea's livestock product imports exceeded one million tonnes for the first time ever in 2011, a US Grains Council official said Friday (Mar 2).

The US's share in South Korea's total livestock product imports was 37%, the council's country director, Byong Ryol Min said in a report.

Due to lower domestic production, South Korea's pork imports increased by a dramatic 68.4% last year, he said but didn't give the actual numbers.

As local meat prices rose, government encouraged imports through duty-free quotas and subsidies to cover the cost differential in shipping chilled pork bellies by air transport instead of sea.

The rise in direct meat imports adversely affected South Korea's import of animal feed grains. South Korea's imports of feed grains including feed wheat, tapioca and lupine seed fell by 7.7% in 2011 from year-earlier, Min said.

South Korea is the world's third largest importer of corn after Japan and Mexico and according to the estimate of the USDA it purchased 8.11 million tonnes corn from the global market in 2010-11, down 4.1% from year earlier. Imports in 2011-12 are projected at eight million tonnes.

US had a 78% share in South Korea's corn purchases last year, Min said.