November 9, 2007

South Korea to reduce tariff quota on animal feed, expands production

South Korea plans to reduce the current tariff quota on imported animal feed by 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry announced Wednesday (09 November 2007).

The move would reduce the amount of feed that can be imported under the lower customs duties arrangement from 860,000 tonnes this year to 420,000 tonnes, the Ministry said. 

The tariff quota was designed to encourage the importation of goods that could not be adequately supplied by production the country.

Seoul maintains a tariff quota duty rate of 2 percent on animal feed. The ministry said the move reflects soaring international feed prices that shot up to US$243 per tonne in August from US$184 in 2005 and a desire to maintain self sufficiency.

To offset the potential drop in feed imports, the government said it would increase the amount of land used to raise animal feed by 66 percent over eight years.

This is expected to increase feed-producing land from 145,000 hectares as of last year to 240,000 hectares by 2015.

South Korea imports a fairly large amount of animal feed from China, India and the US.