April 23, 2008

South Korean beef prices will slide on US beef re-entry
 

The re-entry of US beef to South Korea will cause cattle prices to slide by about 14 percent compared with 2007, the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) reported.

Open market access to US beef will consistently cause local prices to decrease within the year, the state-run agricultural think-tank said.

If US beef drives beef imports up to 240,000 tonnes this year, up 20 percent on 2007, the price of premium Korean beef could fall by 5.7 to 4.6 percent, KREI reported.

According to a KREI researcher, local beef prices will drop 8.3 to 10.4 percent if beef imports go up by 30 percent, while the decrease can range from 11.4 to 14.2 percent if 280,000 tonnes of beef are imported.

The report also showed that Koreans are willing to pay less for US beef than local and Australian beef.