Australian, South Korean beef outpace US counterparts

US beef was only a "flash-in-a-pan" in South Korea wherein sales were smaller compared to local and Australian counterparts.

According to the logistics industry on Thursday (November 26), E-Mart, one of the large retail stores in South Korea, has sold a total of 2,960 tonnes of US beef over the last year -- merely 16 percent of the store's overall beef sale. During the same period, Korean and Australian beef sales reached 52 percent and 32 percent, respectively, overtaking that of the US beef.

Another giant retail store Lotte Mart displayed a similar trend.

Among Lotte Mart's entire beef sale, Korean beef accounted for 54 percent, followed by Australian beef 26 percent and the US beef 20 percent.

In terms of sale volume, only 1,470 tonnages of the US beef were sold, outpaced sharply by Korean beef (1,680 tonnages) or Australian beef (2,090 tonnages).

However, the US beef was analyzed to have struck a huge blow in the local beef logistics market.

Since South Korea opened to US beef imports, the overall domestic beef sales increased buoyed by a boost in Korean as well as Australian beef sales.

In addition, to compete with imported US imported, Korean beef quality has improved on diverse measures such an introduction of a beef traceability system. A price of imported Australian beef was also found to have declined.