August 3, 2007

South Korea's agricultural deficit may reach record US$10 billion this year

High grain prices and rising demand could mean a record US$10 billion deficit for South Korea's agricultural sector this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said yesterday ( Aug 2).

The deficit has already risen 29.1 percent on-year to US$5.4 billion in the first half.

Although agricultural exports grew 9.5 percent in the six-month period to US$1.10 billion, imports expanded 25.3 percent to US$6.5 billion.

If the trend continues, the deficit would pass US$10 billion by year's end, the ministry said.

Rising imports were largely due to local demand for cheaper and wider varieties of agricultural goods, he said.

The agricultural deficit for the first half was even larger than the country's memory chip surplus of US$5.2 billion. Memory chip is one of South Korea's main exports.

The largest deficit was with the US, which amounted to US$1.4 billion.

This was followed by China, Australia and Brazil.

South Korea imported US$486 million worth of beef and US$477 million worth of pork in the January to June period.