Subdued sales pull down US beef sales to South Korea

US beef imports to South Korea, its No.3 overseas market, dropped by a quarter in the first half of this year from the previous six months due to weak consumer take-up since the Asian nation lifted a five-year import ban a year ago.

Despite concerns that Australian meat sales would suffer a blow as the US resumed its sales in South Korea, Australia kept its No.1 exporter status, with imports falling only 0.6 percent to 60,290 tonnes when overall imports dropped 3 percent during the same period, customs data showed on Friday (August 14).

Some Australian exporters projected their share of the South Korean beef market to fall back by 35-40 percent from a peak of 77 percent reached in 2006, as US exports picked up.

Australian beef overtook US beef as the No.1 imported beef in South Korea after the country banned imports of the American product in late 2003 following the first case of mad cow disease in the United States.

South Korea reinstated imports in July 2008 amid street protests against the move. It was not until November that top three retailers -- Lotte Mart, E-Mart and Home Plus -- began stocking shelves beef from the United States.

But consumer resistance to US beef meant that Australia was likely to maintain a higher market share: The US this year overtook New Zealand as the No.2 exporter to South Korea, but Australia remains No.1.

Imports of frozen and fresh US beef dropped 24 percent to 23,970 tonnes in the first half of this year to take a 23 percent share of the imported meat market, while Australian beef imports totalled 59 percent of the market.

Before South Korea banned imports of US beef in late 2003, it imported about 199,000 tonnes, or US$850 million of the product per year. The US once accounted for two-thirds of beef imports.