May 27, 2008

US to market beef in South Korea after resistance mellows

The US Meat Export Federation intends to promote beef in South Korea after a time to avoid enflaming consumer concerns, USMEF senior vice president for Asia Pacific Joel Haggard said.

Haggard said a lot of the recent backlash against the new agreement that opens the South Korean market to US beef as political.

The US believes that once US beef products are in Korean stores, they will be taken up very quickly.

Korean food stores saw strong demand last summer when US beef re-entered the market briefly.

Haggard predicted South Korea to import about 50,000 tonnes of US beef during the remainder of 2008.