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Food News Clipping

March 02, 2011

2011.03.02

FAS/Seoul Monitoring of Media Reporting on Agricultural Issues

Today's Date: March Wednesday 02, 2011

For Coverage: March 01 - 02, 2011

1. BILATERAL/MULTILATERAL ISSUES

Obama wants Korea FTA done by spring [English, CSY]

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2932876

Full text: The Obama administration is working to clear the pending free trade deal with Korea through Congress this spring so as not to lag behind the European Union, which ratified a similar deal with Seoul set to take effect in July, the chief U.S. trade official has said. “The EU-Korea trade agreement is scheduled to take effect on July 1 of this year,” U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told the Texas Chamber of Commerce in Austin on Friday. Some Congressional Republicans want to consider the Korea FTA concurrently with similar deals with Colombia and Panama, but Kirk has dismissed that as “a huge mistake.”

Seoul opens FTA fair to promote free trade [English, CSY]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2011/03/02/0502000000AEN20110302002500320.HTML

Summary: An international trade fair started in South Korea Wednesday as Seoul moves to significantly boost its trade volume by implementing free trade agreements (FTAs) with major economies. Hosted by the Finance Ministry, the 2011 FTA Fair will be held for three days until Friday at Seoul's COEX center, bringing together thousands of officials and people from some 100 organizations and private firms, organizers said.

European buyers say will increase S. Korean imports after FTA [English, OYS]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2011/03/02/0200000000AEN20110302004900320.HTML

SEOUL, March 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korean exports to the European Union (EU) are expected to register solid gains once a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) takes effect, a local trade organization said Wednesday. The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) said a survey of Europe's 26 largest importers showed they will increase their purchases of South Korean products by up to 15 percent once the Korea-EU FTA is enforced.

S. Korea aims to develop fisheries into viable growth industry [English, OYS]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2011/03/02/0200000000AEN20110302004700320.HTML

SEOUL, March 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will seek to develop its fisheries sector into a viable growth industry by enhancing marine resources management and expanding its deep-ocean fishing operations, the government said Wednesday.

Obama seeks Korea FTA's ratification as soon as possible: USTR [English, OYS]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2011/03/02/0200000000AEN20110302000900315.HTML

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Yonhap) -- The Obama administration is seeking congressional approval of the pending free trade deal with South Korea as soon as possible, the chief U.S. trade negotiator said Tuesday. "The Administration is continuing its close cooperation with Congress to secure approval of this landmark agreement.

2. ECONOMIC ISSUES

More pork, milk will be exempt from import taxes [English, CSY]

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2932843

Summary: Korea will expand the amount of powdered milk and frozen pork belly subject to no import taxes as part of efforts to ease price hikes sparked by the massive slaughter of livestock amid the spreading foot-and-mouth disease, the finance ministry said. The measure, finalized during a Cabinet meeting held earlier in the day, will go into effect from early March under the government’s quota tariff system, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

A tariff quota is a quantitative threshold on imports, above which a higher tariff is applied. The lower tariff rate applies to imports within the quota, allowing policy makers to adjust duties on specified merchandise to help control inflationary pressure. Under the latest decision, the government will impose no import duties on 30,000 tons of powdered milk until the end of this year. It earlier sought to apply the tax exemption to 9,000 tons of the product by the end of June.

S. Korea's consumer prices jump 4.5 pct in Feb. [English, CSY]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2011/03/02/51/0502000000AEN20110302002700320F.HTML

Summary: South Korea's consumer prices made their biggest jump in 27 months in February mainly due to soaring food and energy-related product costs, adding to concerns that mounting inflationary pressure could undercut the nation's economic recovery, a government report showed Wednesday. According to the report by Statistics Korea, the country's consumer price index surged 4.5 percent last month from a year earlier, marking the sharpest growth since November 2008. The figure is higher than the 4.1 percent spike in January, and it also stayed much higher than the government's 2011 inflation target of 3 percent.

3. GRAIN & OILSEED ISSUES

S. Korea's rice reserve exceeds 1.5 million tons [English, CSY]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2011/03/123_82241.html

Summary: South Korea's rice reserve exceeded 1.5 million tons in the 2010 food grain year, the highest reached since 1994, the government said Tuesday. The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said last year's reserve represents a gain of 52 percent, or 516,000 tons, from the year before and is due to a surge

4. LIVESTOCK ISSUES

More pork, milk will be exempt from import taxes [English, OYS]

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2932843

Korea will expand the amount of powdered milk and frozen pork belly subject to no import taxes as part of efforts to ease price hikes sparked by the massive slaughter of livestock amid the spreading foot-and-mouth disease, the finance ministry said. The measure, finalized during a Cabinet meeting held earlier in the day, will go into effect from early March under the government’s quota tariff system, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. A tariff quota is a quantitative threshold on imports, above which a higher tariff is applied. The lower tariff rate applies to imports within the quota, allowing policy makers to adjust duties on specified merchandise to help control inflationary pressure.

5. MARKETING ISSUES

Breast milk ice cream' hits London [English, OYS]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2011/02/182_82232.html

A restaurant in London, named Icecreamists, is selling “breast milk ice cream” which is being served to customers in a cocktail glass, reported the British Daily Mail newspaper Saturday. A cup of the “Baby Gaga” costs 14 pounds. Victoria Hiley, 35, from Leeds provided the first 30 fluid ounces of milk which were enough to make the first 50 servings. Hiley said, “I saw the advert offering to pay women to donate breast milk on a forum and it made me laugh.” She said she believes that if adults realize how tasty breast milk actually is, new mothers will be more willing to breast feed their own newborns. The recipe blends breast milk with Madagascan vanilla pods and lemon zest, which is then freshly churned into ice cream.

6. NORTH KOREA ISSUES

UN team in Pyongyang to help fight FMD spread [English, CSY]

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2932898

Summary: Team of experts from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization landed in North Korea Monday to inspect the North’s foot-and-mouth outbreak after Pyongyang officially confirmed multiple cases of the virus on Feb. 10. According to U.S.-based Radio Free Asia yesterday, FAO said that the group went to North Korea to help prevent the spread of the disease, which was reported by North Korea’s Central News Agency to have already affected several areas in the country. An official at the FAO was quoted by RFA as saying that the scale and variety of the aid would be determined after discussions with North Korean government officials. The exact itinerary of the group was not released. The UN food agency also said that along with the team that arrived in North Korea last month, additional officials, including an expert on contagious diseases, would be sent to the area.

7. OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

Postponement of Emissions Trading Scheme Puts "Green Growth" to Shame [English, CSY]

http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201102281351117&code=790101

Summary: The government has said that it is postponing until 2015 the carbon emission permit trading system that it had decided to introduce in 2013. It is also reported that the range of businesses to which the system will be applied, and the standards for imposing surcharges, have been scaled back dramatically. The Presidential Council on Green Growth (PCGG), and the Ministry of Environment (ME) have agreed on an amended bill that includes these changes, and will introduce it to the National Assembly in March. The government has effectively surrendered to the industrial sector, following objections from the latter based on issues including cost burdens. The move has provoked criticism that the government's will to achieve green growth, which it has vaunted until now, is fading. The government has been announcing voluntary greenhouse gas reduction guidelines at various international conferences, and boasting of having done so. This latest measure can be described as a step that sees it damaging its own credibility.

Soju, Beer Consumption Rises in 2010 [English, OYS]

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/03/02/2011030200389.html

Korean adults drank an average of 81 bottles of soju and 86 bottles of beer per person last year, data released on Monday shows. According to the Korea Alcohol and Liquor Industry Association, soju production rose 0.3 percent on-year to 3.27 billion bottles in 2010. That works out to a total of 81.3 bottles per adult, or one bottle every 4.5 days. The most popular kinds were those with alcohol content of 20 percent or less. The total consumption of beer amounted to 3.45 billion bottles, or 85.6 bottles per adult, up 0.6 percent from the previous year. Hite was the top-selling brand with 1.55 billion bottles or 45.1 percent market share, followed by Cass with 1.35 billion bottles (39 percent), and Max with 319 million bottles (9.3 percent).

The information in this report was compiled by the Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. The press summaries contained herein do NOT reflect USDA, the U.S. Embassy, or other U.S. government agency official policy or view point. U.S. food exporters can learn more about market opportunities in South Korea by reviewing ATO Seoul’s Exporter Guide and other reports available at www.fas.usda.gov by clicking on “attaché reports”.

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