April 28, 2011

 

Chile wants South Korea to speed up opening of beef market

 

 

Chile hopes that South Korea will speed up the opening of its beef market to the South American country since it is mutually beneficial, Santiago's visiting farm minister said on Wednesday (Apr 27).

 

South Korea currently bans beef imports from Chile, though a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), Seoul's first free trade deal, went into effect in 2004, removing tariffs on a range of farm produce and manufactured goods.

 

"Market opening can benefit everyone because Chile can provide high quality beef at affordable prices," Jose Antonio Galilea, the Chilean Minister of Agriculture, said.

 

While the South American country cannot ship beef in large volumes like other global meat exporters, its products should be competitive in the South Korean market and meet consumer expectations, he said.

 

The minister is in South Korea to participate in the 2011 Seoul Food and Hotel expo and the Wine Korea and Meat Korea exhibitions, which are underway in Seoul. Galilea said he conveyed Santiago's position on market liberalization to his South Korean counterpart Yoo Jeong-bok in a meeting earlier in the day.

 

"Seoul is aware of our views and said that it is following due process needed to open its market," he said.

 

Chile currently has no reported cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks, which could have hindered progress on market liberalisation.

 

At present, South Korea imports roughly half of its beef from abroad with meat from Australia, the US, New Zealand and Mexico. It is close to resolving a dispute with Canada that may allow beef from the North American country to be sold in the country.

 

In 2010, Chile's farm exports to South Korea reached US$531.7 million, up from US$443.3 million in the previous year. Of the total, US$119.1 million and US$104.7 million were in the farm and meat product sectors, respectively, with the rest involving shipments of forestry goods.

 

South Korea is Chile's seventh-largest export market for farm and food products with pork, wine, and grapes being leading export items. In the same year, Chile imported US$1.3 million worth of South Korean food, such as fruit juices and sauces.

 

Galilea said that Chile is looking to expand its market presence in pork that is in high demand.

 

South Korea, which culled more than 3.47 million heads of pigs and cattle in recent months due to its severest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in history, has moved to import more meat to stem sharp gains in prices that can fuel inflationary pressure.

 

Galilea also said Seoul and Santiago has been engaged in updating the bilateral FTA so the pact can better reflect changes that have taken place in the global trade environment.