December 21, 2009

Australia's chilled grassfed beef is a hit in South Korea

South Korea has a liking for chilled grassfed beef, with the imports from Australia growing 32% over January-November.

The growth is in spite of a 12% decline in total Australian beef exports to South Korea. Chilled grassfed beef also accounted for 14% of total Australian beef exports to South Korea, compared with 12% of chilled grainfed and 11% of frozen grainfed products.

Chilled grassfed exports during the 11-month period totalled 14,015 tonnes swt, with short rib and chuck roll making up 27% and 21% of total shipments, respectively. It is a sharp increase from the same period in 1999, when South Korea bought only 134 tonnes swt of Australian chilled grassfed beef.

The third quarter of 2009 was also a record for chilled grassfed beef exports to South Korea, totalling 4,314 tonnes swt.

Australian chilled grassfed beef exports to South Korea are expected to total more than 4,000 tonnes swt in the December quarter.