October 31, 2007

US confident of more beef exports to South Korea despite trade rift

South Korea is expected to buy some 30,000 more tonnes of American beef this year for a total of 280,000 tonnes, despite lingering problems over inspections and restrictions, according to US Department of Agriculture reports.

Prepared by the department's Foreign Agricultural Service office in Seoul, one of the two reports written this month predicted that as the beef market expands, imports of US pork will decrease by about 50,000 tonnes next year.

It took note that the country's per capital beef consumption, which marked its lowest point in 2005, was turning upward in 2006.

"The change in the direction of the per capital beef consumption is a very meaningful factor, as it is the first time that per capita consumption has begun to grow after the 2003 BSE ban," said the report.

BSE stands for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, often called mad cow disease, a disease that destroys a cow's brain. Its discovery at a cattle farm in Washington state led to South Korea's blanket ban on American beef imports in December 2003.

Seoul partially lifted the ban in early 2006, agreeing only to import boneless meat to minimize health risks. But after repeated discoveries of bone parts in the shipments, South Korea suspended all quarantine inspections, temporarily halting imports.

US legislators warn that they will not approve the free trade agreement with Seoul unless the Asian trading partner reopens its beef market fully to American products.

The report added, boneless beef imports from the United States in 2008 are forecast to grow slightly as US exporters and importers begin to understand the Korean inspection system.