May 4, 2011

South Korea lifts meat import levies to ease supply strains

South Korean will temporarily lift tariffs on chicken, pork belly and dairy products as part of a measure to cope with uncertainties in supply of meat products triggered by the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and avian flu (AI).

The government also decided to increase the volume of pork belly that is going to be applied with lowered tariffs, and cut tariffs additionally on three more items including flour.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) unveiled the plan for tariff cuts on Tuesday (May 3) and said the plan will be implemented from May.

New items selected for tariff cuts include chicken and milk cows whose domestic supply volumes have significantly fallen due to the spread of cattle diseases continuing from last year through this year.

Under the plan, about 20% tariffs imposed upon 50,000 tonnes of imported chicken will be temporarily lifted until the end of the year. In order to help reduce burden on farms suffering damage from the outbreak of the FMD, tariffs will not be imposed on imported milk cows for a while.

The government decided to expand its plan to put zero tariffs on 60,000 tonnes of frozen pork belly, charging no tariffs on an additional 20,000 tonnes of frozen pork belly.