Today's Date:  Thursday August 09, 2012

1. BILATERAL/MULTILATERAL ISSUES

S. Korea, Vietnam announce start of FTA talks [English, CSY]

http://view.koreaherald.com/kh/view.php?ud=20120806000966&cpv=0

Full text: Korea and Vietnam declared the launch of talks on a bilateral free trade agreement Monday as part of efforts to strengthen economic ties, Seoul’s Trade Ministry said.  In a meeting held in Hanoi earlier in the day, South Korean Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho and his Vietnamese counterpart Vu Huy Hoang agreed to launch their free trade talks, the ministry said.   Korea already has a free trade pact on merchandise with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations that took effect in 2010. Similar deals on services and investments also have come into effect.

Vietnam is a member of ASEAN, but Korea and Vietnam have been seeking to seal their bilateral free trade pact.   Korea and Vietnam finalized a joint study on the feasibility of an FTA between the countries in October last year.   Vietnam is a fast-emerging country whose economy is growing at an annual rate of 5-8 percent on average. Vietnam was Korea’s 15th-largest trading partner last year, according to the ministry.   Korea’s exports to Vietnam stood at $13.55 billion last year, up 40 percent from a year earlier, and imports also surged 53 percent to reach $5.08 billion over the cited period, the ministry said.   Korea’s Finance Ministry said earlier it will keep working to strengthen cooperative ties with Vietnam as both nations have mutual supplementary economic structures.

2. GRAIN & OILSEED ISSUES

<8/5/2012>Rice-growing households shrink amid less demand [English, CSY]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2012/08/05/82/0501000000AEN20120805001400320F.HTML

Full text: The number of rice growing households in South Korea fell 3.5 percent on-year in 2011, affected by declining demand for rice in the daily diets of its people, a report showed Sunday.   Rice growing households totaled about 750,000 last year, down from 777,000 a year earlier, according to the report by the farm ministry. It is down 30.4 percent from 1.08 million tallied in 2000.   The decline is attributable to less demand for rice among Korean citizens who tend to replace the staple crop in their diets with fruits and other western-style foods.   Per-capita rice consumption among Korean people averaged at 69.8 kilograms last year, down 2.1 percent from 71.3 kilograms a year earlier, showed a separate report by the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI).   This marked the first time that per-capita rice consumption has fallen below the 70-kilogram mark.

Demand for rice has been on the decline over the past decade. In 1999, the average per-capita rice consumption stood at 94.8 kilograms.  The KREI report forecast that rice consumption will shrink further to 68.7 kilograms this year. By 2017 and 2022, the figures will fall to 63.5 kilograms and 58.9 kilograms.     The decline in rice consumption draws a contrast with growing demand for fruits among South Koreans.    Per-capita fruit consumption was forecast to grow to 57.8 kilograms this year from 56.8 kilograms last year. It will likely exceed 60 kilograms in 2017, according to the report.

3. LIVESTOCK ISSUES

Extreme Hot Weather Killed 410,000 Birds in Poultry Farms [Korean, OSY]

http://news.donga.com/3/all/20120808/48444645/1

Summary: It is reported that a total of 418,585 livestock animals, mostly chicken (401,272), died due to hot weather in July through August 6.  Provincial governments are planning to provide financial support to the farmers for the loss.

Heat wave in South Korea kills more than 341,000 poultry [English, CSY]

http://view.koreaherald.com/kh/view.php?ud=20120806001243&cpv=0

Full text: A heat wave has killed more than 341,000 chickens and ducks across South Korea since July, an agriculture official said Monday.  Temperatures have hovered above 33 degrees Celsius since July 20 in most parts of the country, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.   The scorching temperatures killed 330,500 chickens and 10,700 ducks as well as 96 pigs across the country between July 20 and Aug. 6, said Kim Il-soo, an official of the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.  Last week, a power outage stopped a ventilation system at a farm in Goesan, killing about 10,000 out of 80,000 chickens, according to local officials. Goesan is located about 160 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

4. OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

Retail Price of Processed Foods and Beverages to Rise … Due to Increase of Ingredient Cost [Korean, OSY]

http://www.hankyung.com/news/app/newsview.php?aid=2012080861281

Summary: Many of the leading food manufacturers have announced that they would raise retail price of various processed food and beverage products.  Lotte Chilsung, leading supplier of beverages, announced on August 8 that ex-factory price of its top 10 flagship products, including ‘Gatorade’, ‘Pepsi-Cola’, and ‘LetsBe(canned coffee drink)’, by an average of  6 percent.  CJ Cheiljedang, leading supplier of packaged meals and seasonings, has recently raised the retail price of its flagship product ‘Hatban (steamed rice)’ by 9 percent and ‘Dasida(seasoning)’ by 8 percent.  Jung’s Food, leading supplier of soy drinks, announced that retail price of its soy drinks would rise by an average of 13 percent this week.  It is likely that other leading food manufacturers will also increase the retail price of various processed food and beverage products in the coming weeks.