South Korea's imports of US beef followed closely behind those of Australian beef in the first quarter, domestic meat industry sources said Wednesday (Apr 28).

The ratio of US beef imports to the country's total imports increased to 31.7% in the January-March period, compared with 24.8% a year ago, while Australian beef imports represented 50.6%, the sources said.

The country's combined imports of beef stood at 60,724 tonnes in the first quarter, up 19% from a year ago.

South Korea's imports of Australian beef gained 5.8% from a year ago to 30,706 tonnes in the first quarter, while the country's imports of US beefs shot up 56.5% to 19,230 tonnes.

As the import price of US beef rose, the domestic sale price of US beef also gained 15-20% in the cited period compared to last year, according to sources.

South Korea banned imports of the meat in 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was found in the US state of Washington. Imports were resumed in October 2006, but the country again suspended them after banned backbones were found in a shipment in October 2007.

Local beef importers restarted shipments of US beef four months after Seoul and Washington signed a controversial import deal in April 2008. US beef sales resumed in South Korea starting November 2008.