December 11, 2006

 

South Korea firm on beef stand, fails to make progress on bilateral talks

 

 

South Korea has turned to X-ray machines and sharp knives to detect bone fragments as tiny as a grain of rice in US beef imports.

 

The move, Washington feels is aimed at seeking excuses to turn back imports.

 

South Korea struck a deal with the US to resume imports, provided the shipments did not have

specific risk materials such as bone.

 

The South Korean Agriculture Ministry has been able to find chips the size of a pea and coffee bean through X-ray and has rejected tonnes of US beef. What's more, when machines fail to detect bone chips, South Korean inspectors have been cutting into the meat to ensure the same.

 

The South Korea has so far, rejected three US shipments since it resumed imports, ending a three-year ban imposed after an outbreak of mad cow disease in the US.

 

Meanwhile, some in the local industry felt it was impossible for US beef packers, who typically used machines to cut away bones, to meet Seoul's zero tolerance on beef bones.

 

The mass-slaughtering system in the US was different from the small-sized system in South Korea. Tiny fragments of bone material were unavoidable in large shipments, said an official at a South Korean feed company.

 

The continuing dispute has soured bilateral talks aimed at establishing free trade agreement in Montana. Efforts to narrow the gap between two countries' positions failed after both sides refused to make key concessions.

 

Seoul officials complained that the US would not agree to rewrite US trade laws to relax their anti-dumping duties, which South Korea believes often discriminate against its products.

 

The only progress that seems to have been made in this direction is that the negotiators agreed to the immediate elimination of their tariffs on certain products.

 

A sixth round of talks would be held on Jan 15 in South Korea. The negotiators intend to wrap up the agreement before the expiry of US President George W Bush's trade negotiating fast track authority in July.

 

Incidentally other beef exporters such as Australia have been increasing their presence in the South Korean market, taking advantage of the ongoing row between US and South Korea.

 

After the ban, sales of Australian beef in South Korea jumped from some 64,000 tonnes in 2003 to about 101,000 tonnes in 2005.