Pork and Poultry Meat
Pork consumption continues to grow. Pork became the leading
meat because beef was in short supply and quite expensive
relative to pork. Currently, this is also the
case with imported, grain-fed beef supplies reduced because
of
bans on beef imports from North America due to Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or "mad cow" disease).
Chicken meat consumption was slow to grow in South Korea,
partly
because of a relative lack of recipes using chicken in the South
Korean diet. The introduction of fast-food, fried chicken
franchises, however,
brought about expansion in broiler consumption in the 1980s and
1990s, and more growth is expected.
Since July 1, 1997, when imports of frozen pork and poultry
meat were liberalized, the only formal barrier restraining
trade for
pork and poultry meat has been tariffs that were progressively
reduced until reaching 25 percent for pork and 20 percent
for poultry
meat in 2004. Chilled pork and poultry meat were already
free from
quotas and have lower tariffs than those that face the frozen products
(22.5 percent for chilled pork, 18 percent for poultry
meat). Imports of
chilled pork began late in 1996, after negotiations in 1995 ended
a controversy over government-mandated short shelf-life
rules for
meats. Those rules would have effectively prevented imported chilled
meat from being sent to South Korea in seaborne containers.
South
Korea has exported certain cuts of pork (notably loins) to Japan
and other markets in some years. The government has sometimes
given
subsidies to the exports. Disease outbreaks have caused serious
problems for pork and poultry farms in recent years (see
Issues and Analysis).
Pork and poultry meat are produced intensively in South Korea,
primarily using imported feedstuffs. Production is concentrated
in the province surrounding Seoul, and, secondarily, in the southeast
and central parts of the country. Pork production doubled in the
1980s and grew by over 50 percent in the 1990s. Both the number
and weight of hogs slaughtered have increased over time. The broiler
flock size has grown over the last decade and the slaughter weight
of broilers has increased, so that chicken meat production has shown
a consistent upward trend.
As in the intensive livestock industries in other major producing
countries, South Korea's farms have been getting larger and larger.
For pork production, boom and bust cycles led to concentration
of production among lower cost producers. Farms with more than
1,000
hogs dominate the swine sector, with some farms having more than
10,000 hogs. The poultry industries have not seen the same wild
swings in production and prices as the swine sector, but nevertheless
have experienced a steady growth in size of operation as the cost
advantages of large operations have aided their competitiveness.
Most chicken production is on farms with 40,000 or more birds.
Despite government restrictions on the maximum farm size because
of environmental
concerns, the trend toward larger, more efficient farms continues.
Increased foreign competition, intensified since 1997, quickens
the pace of change in farm size.
The South Korean market for meats continues to undergo considerable
change. South Korea's marketing of pork and chicken meat was poorly
developed until the 1990s. Pork, like beef, was sold thawed or frozen.
Poultry meat has usually been sold fresh or chilled. Markets for
specific cuts and for quality grades were largely absent, with meat
sold in relatively undifferentiated form. This was a problem for
imports, since the international meat trade is increasingly concentrated
in specific cuts and qualities. An undifferentiated retail market
makes it more difficult to introduce cuts that usually sell at a
higher price, because consumers may not attach added value to a
chilled product or to a cut designed to be easily used in a certain
recipe. However, the lack of retail differentiation also limits
the ability of domestic producers to add value through marketing
specific cuts or degrees of freshness. Thus, the domestic industry
shares with exporters an interest in intensifying and differentiating
the marketing of meats in South Korea. In addition, South Korean
consumers also have an interest in seeing more specific cuts in
preparing certain dishes because they are increasingly pressed for
time and interested in expanding the variety of foods they eat.
The shift to a market in specific cuts will benefit imports of certain
cuts, especially pork ribs and bellies, which are sometimes in short
supply and priced above world market levels.
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