May 18, 2009

After taking a hit in sales due to the outbreak of the AH1N1 flu virus in April, Korean pork sales are slowly beginning to recover, according to industry experts on Thursday (May 14).

Korea Swine Association (KSA) spokesman Oh Yoon-hwan said consumer sentiment has improved a lot, but has yet to fully recover.

According to KSA, the outbreak of the new AH1N1 flu virus dropped the wholesale price of pork to 4,400 won (KRW) per kilogramme. The comparable figure before the pandemic was about KRW5,000.

Around the globe, nations have restricted the import of live pigs, pork and even cattle and poultry because of fears the flu may have spread through animal products.

The Korean government, however, only banned imports of live pigs in order to ease public fears. It refrained from banning other imports out of lack of concrete scientific evidence pigs are to blame for spreading the flu.

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MFAFF) has been promoting pork as safe to consume and that the virus completely dies under cooking temperatures of 71 degrees Celsius.

Pork-related businesses and farms worldwide took a tough beating. A global flu alert triggered a trade row over bans on pork and pigs from Mexico, Canada and the United States, the three most affected countries by the pandemic.

According to experts, the latest AH1N1 variant contains mostly DNA from swine, with components of human and bird influenzas.

Yoon Hyun-sik, a spokesman of Lotte Department Store, said those consumers who find department stores reliable continue to buy pork, however, noting that there is still some ways to go before conditions return to normal.

US$1 = KRW1,269 (May 18)