By JANE HOUIN
Ohio Correspondent SEOUL, South Korea — It may have taken nearly four years for U.S. beef to return to supermarket shelves in South Korea, but only it took only a few hours on Friday the 13th to quadruple imported meat sales.
Excited customers at Lotte Mart, a large discount-store chain in South Korea, eagerly anticipated once again enjoying high quality, affordable U.S. beef. At the same time, in a handful of stores, there were protests from those who still oppose U.S. beef imports, citing concerns about U.S. beef safety.
“International consumers are eager to enjoy U.S. beef products, and America’s cattle producers are anxious to export our safe, top-quality beef across the globe,” said Greg Doub, chief economist with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).
Despite some protests, the United States Meat Export Federation (USMEF) reported 5 metric tons or more than 11,000 pounds, of U.S. beef was sold at Lotte Mart stores on July 13 alone. According to Lotte officials, U.S. beef sales were more than four times what they normally expect to sell of imported meats on a Friday.
“We saw housewives fighting each other to buy U.S. beef,” Jihae Yang, director of the USMEF office in Korea. “Due to protests, some stores decided to pull product from the shelves temporarily, leaving many disappointed. Customers want to buy U.S. beef.”
Protestors surrounded meat counters in a few stores. Some carried protest signs while others bought U.S. beef and then burned it outside of the stores. Police were called in to restrain protestors and seven of the 53 outlets decided to suspend U.S. beef sales for the day.
At those stores, customers waiting to purchase U.S. beef became frustrated that they were not able to buy it. Before U.S. beef was pulled from shelves at the Seoul store, Lotte officials said they had sold 330 pounds of beef.
“My kids love beef, and I’m very frustrated that I can’t buy the U.S. beef because Korean beef is very expensive,” Luis Felipe Maldauer, a store customer, told the Associated Press.
U.S. beef was priced 50 percent less than Korean beef and up to 25 percent less than beef from Australia, which currently has a 76 percent share of the import meat market.
Major TV news reported positive responses from consumers and showed consumers lining up for U.S. beef. In addition, stations reported that meat specialists forecast meat price decreases due to U.S. beef imports.
USMEF supported the event at Lotte with cooking demonstrations, samples, U.S. beef information and in-store advertising. Lotte Mart is the first retail chain to restart sales of U.S. beef since imports resumed in April.
“Customer response was very positive,” Yang said. “Customers said they liked the taste of U.S. beef and were glad they were able to enjoy it again.”
Before a ban was imposed with the discovery of BSE in the United States, South Korea ranked third in U.S. beef export destinations. U.S. beef and beef variety meat exports to South Korea in 2003 reached 246,958 mt., or more than 544 million pounds, valued at nearly $816 million, and U.S. beef accounted for more than half of the beef consumption. Back in May, USMEF President Phillip Seng told the USMEF Board of Directors that it would take years before South Korean beef trade would reach pre-BSE levels, but that the recent ruling by the World Organization for Animal Health said that the United States was a “controlled risk” country for BSE was also a big help.
“We have taken progressive steps to eradicate BSE for almost two decades, and our extensive testing proves these steps have worked,” said NCBA. Chief Veterinarian Elizabeth Parker. “In addition, our concrete system of science-based firewalls ensures the BSE agent does not enter the food or feed supply.
Since BSE was first detected in the United States in December 2003, U.S. cattle producers have faced extensive trade barriers, with $4.8 billion in U.S. beef and beef product exports banned from international export market.
According to the USDA in May, 86 countries were either fully or partially opened to the U.S. beef market with 18 countries still banning U.S. beef.
The U.S. Meat Export Federation is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, lamb, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.
This farm news was published in the Aug. 8, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
