South Korean beef imports continue to grow significantly

Lead: Sydney (Reuters) - South Korea's beef imports continued to grow significantly from January to may, according to MLA On the basis of a year-on-year growth of 79% in the first four months, the number of beef imports from South Korea continued to rise in May, with the import volume of 23889 tons in that month and the cumulative import volume from January to may reached 119752 tons, an increase of 88% over the same period of last year South Korean beef imports were relatively low last year, mainly due to large inventories, weak demand due to economic weakness, and concerns about BSE and FMD in Europe This year, inventories have been reduced, demand has been restored, and suppliers have been able to offer more products, mainly those that were normally sold to the Japanese market (which has shrunk sharply this year) To the disappointment of Australian exporters, although their absolute beef exports to South Korea increased by 42% to 31078 tons year on year, their market share decreased by 6% to 26% The main reason for this is the continuous pressure brought by the "Korean cut" of American grain fed beef, which is deeply loved by Korean people Over the same period, the United States exported 74066 tons of beef to South Korea, an increase of 120% year on year In terms of cooling beef, South Korea imported 1689 tons of beef from Australia in May, a year-on-year increase of 456%, and Australia's market share of the product increased from 17% to 35% (author:) share to feed Weibo share to: