FAS/Seoul Monitoring of Media Reporting on Agricultural Issues

Today's Date: Friday August 29, 2014

For Coverage: August 1 ~ 29, 2014

1. BIOTECHNOLOGY ISSUES

GMO, Registration of variety after the safety evaluation process [Korean, BSY]

http://www.nongmin.com/article/ar_detail.htm?ar_id=241121&page=undefined                        

SUMMARY: The first safety evaluation on genetically modified Organism crop (GMC) is expected to begin at the end of this year at the earliest. The subjects of evaluation are drought-resistant rice, functional rice, virus-resistant pepper and herbicide-resistant grass developed by the Rural Development Administration, seed companies, university research laboratories and etc. If Korea passes the evaluation, it will be the country with GMO breeding technology just like the US, EU, France and Japan.

Current state of GMO development in Korea:

Studies on bio-tech has begun since the early 2000 by both private and public institutions that are currently promoting the development of more than 200 types of GMO, but there hasn’t been a single case that reached the safety evaluation stage, the last stage before variety registration. Since the GMO development usually requires 10-15 years and at least 100 billion won, it is a huge project that is difficult to approach. Thus, the government decided to invest on the R&D of GMO technology through the ‘Next Generation Bio-green 21 Business.’

The meaning of acquiring the GMO technology:

Experts claim that acquiring the GMO technology has a significant meaning in regards to food security as the technology will be the practical measure against food shortage due to population increase or environmental changes. Furthermore, the technology can protect domestic market against multinational corporations armed with GMO, and promote the growth of agriculture and domestic economy by providing opportunities to produce medical products and advanced materials with lower prices.

The Rural Development Administration set the goal of making Korea the leading country of technology by developing 80 types of GMO and submitting 20 cases for safety evaluation by 2020.

Controversies on and tasks of GMO:

The core issue of GMO is the “safety.” Bio-technologists say that they did not find any safety issue through scientific verification. The opponents, however, say that GMO may pose potential threats to both humans and environment, and this may not be detected by the current technology. Experts point out that guideline for GMO usage must be set up stating that when and how to use GMO technology must reflect public opinion.

2. GRAIN & OILSEED ISSUES

Bulmanzero (Complain Zero), where does imported rice go? [Korean, BSY]

http://www.newsen.com/news_view.php?uid=201408201742332410

SUMMARY: Since the government publicly announced that it will open the rice market beginning from next year, consumers are concerned whether they would be able to consume rice with trust. In fact, imported rice is usually sold after it is mixed with domestic rice; but since the product name is in Korean, it is difficult for consumers to recognize mixed rice.  According to the “Bulmanzero”, a Korean version of “U.S. Consumer Lab.Com”, mixed rice is mostly purchased by restaurants.  Although there were many that correctly labeled the origin of rice, there were at least nine restaurants including the popular franchise Kimbab restaurant that either falsely indicated the country of origin or did not even indicate the country of origin at all.  Rice is mostly imported from the U.S. and China, and is used in food that is mixed with other ingredients such as Kimbab and fried rice.  There is also a golden ratio for mixed rice: 50 percent of domestic rice + 50 percent of American rice and 90 percent of Chinese rice + 10 percent of domestic sweet rice taste very much like domestic rice, and even experts have hard time figuring out the country of origin.

3. LIVESTOCK ISSUES

An influx of imported pork adversely impacts domestic pork [Korean, BSY]

http://www.nongmin.com/article/ar_detail.htm?ar_id=240656&subMenu=articletotal          

SUMMARY: According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI), pork imported from the EU in the second quarter of this year increased by 40 percent from 27,920 MT in 2013 to 39,084 MT due to the substantially lowered pork tariff after Korea-EU FTA came into effect in  2011. In fact, FTA has been impacting the pork market by increasing the total import quota of pork from 80,157MT in the second quarter of 2013 to 90,650 MT this year.  Among the four major countries that export pork to Korea, EU and the U.S. increased their imports after signing FTA, while Canada that has not yet concluded FTA reduced its import by 16 percent.  As pork tariff goes down, domestic pork market is shrinking. The KREI expected that for the next six months, the number of pigs will decrease by 6.2 percent from last year after the reduction of mother pig and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED).  Yet the supply will rise by 0.6 percent due to an influx of imported pork, thereby reducing the wholesale price from 5,771 won in June to the level of 3,000-4,000 won per 1 kg in October.

4. MARKETING ISSUES

Food & Beverage Companies Seek to Offer More Products with Less Salt and Sugar to Address Consumer Health Concerns [Korean, OSY]

http://news.donga.com/3/all/20140818/65822246/1

Summary: It is reported that a majority of food and beverage products newly launched recently are with less salt and sugar due to increased consumer health concerns on related risks such as cardio-vascular diseases, high blood pressure and obesity.  For example, Starbucks Korea launched ‘Lite’ beverages this summer that contained 25 percent less sugar than the regular menus.  Kimchi and bean paste processors have also launched many new products with lower salt content as these products were pointed as a major source of high salt intake among the Koreans.  It is likely that lower salt & sugar trend will remain a main trend in the Korean food market in the coming years.

Fast Food Chains Report Strong Growth of Breakfast Menu Sales [Korean, OSY]

http://www.hankyung.com/news/app/newsview.php?aid=2014080598201

Summary: Dunkin Doughnuts Korea reported that sales of its breakfast menus accounted for 15 percent of the total sales in the first half of this year, up from 11 percent in 2013.  McDonalds Korea also reported that its breakfast menus have shown strong sales growth this year to account for 10 percent of the total sales.  Leading fast food companies have deployed aggressive marketing programs recently to capitalize on the consumers increased demand for quick breakfast meal options.

5. OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

Imported fruits threaten domestic fruits [Korean, BSY]

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?oid=469&sid1=101&aid=0000011615&mid=shm&mode=LSD&nh=20140805074743                                                                                

SUMMARY: Imported fruits such as cherry and mango are threatening the domestic fruits.  According to the distribution industry, the sales revenue of cherry increased by 86.7 percent from last year, while the sales revenue of watermelon and oriental melon – two most popular domestic fruits – reduced by 16.8 percent and 23.8 percent each.  This trend is partly due to the free trade agreement (FTA).  Compared to the sales revenue of imported fruits in 2003 before any FTA was signed, last year’s sales revenue of imported fruits increased by 3.3 times from 286 million dollars to 929 million dollars.  Imports from the U.S. consists 37.9 percent of the revenue, while Asean and Chille each consists 35.5 percent and 17.6 percent.  In addition, abundant harvest of cherry in the U.S. and of mango in the Philippines not only increased the quantity, but also lowered the prices.  The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) estimated that cherry production in Washington increased by 18 percent from last year’s. Productions of domestic fruits, however, continue to decline. The output of domestic pear decreased from 308,000 MT in 2010 to 282,000 MT in 2013. The output of sweet persimmon also went down from 180,000 MT in 2013 to 160,000MT in 2013. The output of grape reduced from 305,000 in 2010 MT to 278,000 MT in 2013. Thus, the government is planning to implement measures to protect the domestic market.  For instance, it is promoting the consumption of domestic fruits through fruit festivals or days and fostering small-sized domestic fruits like cherries that are easy to eat.