December 15, 2008
             

Australian beef is selling fast in South Korea together with a big stockpile of discounted US beef.

Meat & Livestock Australia said that higher demand for US beef by South Korean consumers has triggered an overall surge in demand for beef while consumers cut back on pork and seafood.

South Korea has earlier lifted a ban this year on US beef implemented in 2003 due to BSE or mad cow disease, but an initial resistance to US beef resulted in a stockpile of more than 400,000 tonnes.

 South Korea's major discount markets E-Mart, Lotte Mart and Tesco Homeplus have begun stocking up US beef since Nov 27. Together the three stores have a total of 292 outlets throughout Korea.

South Korea is the third largest beef export market for Australia, the world's second largest exporter.

In November, Australian beef exports plunged 17 percent on-year to 13,935 tonnes, due to consumers tightening their belts.