South Korea's January cattle prices shot to record high

Local cattle prices in South Korea reached an all-time high in January due to a rise in consumer demand for beef and enhanced transparency in sales processes, according to a government report.

The report by Statistics Korea said an average 600-kilogramme, male hanwoo cattle fetched KRW5.84 million (US$5,200) on the market in the first month of this year. This topped the previous record of KRW5.78 million (US$5,145) set a month earlier.

Hanwoo cattle refer to an indigenous breed of cows raised specifically to provide meat. They are favoured by local consumers for their superior taste, although they are more expensive compared to imports from Australia and the US.

The increasing number of eateries that used hanwoo beef as well as the government's mandates that all restaurants are to disclose to diners the country of origin of meat have both spurred demand and caused prices to go up, according to the report.

In addition to the country of origin rules, Seoul has set up a system that allows people to check where the beef they are eating comes from and what type of cattle provided the meat, all via mobile phones.

There were 2.7 million hanwoo and other types of cows raised to provide meat in the country in the first quarter, up 2.7% or 71,000 heads compared to the previous quarter, according to the report.

The number of milk cow in the country reached 449,000, a gain of 0.9% from the previous quarter, while local population of pigs rose by 1.9% to slightly over 9.76 million. Meanwhile, egg laying chickens dipped 0.7% to 62.52 million in the first three months of this year, while broilers shot up 8.2% to 72.69 million birds.