Today's Date:      Monday, April 16, 2012

1. BILATERAL/MULTILATERAL ISSUES

KORUS FTA brings lower prices for oranges and lemon but not for beef [Korean: BYK]

http://news.mk.co.kr/newsRead.php?year=2012&no=230834

Summary: Despite anticipation for a price drop in imported food prices from the United States due to KORUS FTA, the impact coming from FTA seems to be minimal, other than oranges and lemons.  Prices for beef, raisins and almonds coming from the United States remained unchanged.  The duty for beef drops gradually over a period of 15 years, dropping 2.7 percent annually.  The effect of duty drop for almond and raisins won’t be reflected until the end of April.  According to Lotte Mart, sales of U.S. products have increased since the KORUS FTA.  Orange sales volume has increased 14.6 percent, wine has jumped by 62.5 percent and beef sales have increased by 37.5 percent.  

MOFAT to hold public hearing on Korea-Vietnam FTA on April 20 [Korean: BYK]

http://www.nongmin.com/article/ar_detail.htm?ar_id=201268&subMenu=articletotal

Summary: MOFAT announced that it would be holding a public hearing about the plan for pursuing a FTA with Vietnam on April 20^th at COEX.

U.S. FTA cuts prices by more than 6% for wholesale, retail: report [English, CSY]

http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120415000193

Summary: The free trade agreement between Korea and the U.S. led to an average reduction of 7 percent in wholesale prices and 6.3 percent in retail prices of products imported from the U.S., a think tank under the Korea International Trade Association and the Korea Importers Association said in a report Sunday.  Wine and beer (13 percent), fruits and nuts (9.6 percent) and meat and fisheries (7.7 percent) were among the items that showed the sharpest price cuts in the first month under the FTA.

In particular, a company that imports American pork said wholesale and retail prices have been rolled back by 8-9 percent.   An orange importer and an orange juice importer said the price cuts were between 10 and 15 percent, and between 10 and 20 percent, respectively.  An importer of musical instruments said they had already brought down prices by 6-8 percent, and planned additional cuts within the next three months.   Wine importers have scaled down prices by 10 to 15 percent, and car importers by 2-7 percent since late last year. Tariffs on autos were reduced from 8 percent to 4 percent immediately as the FTA went into effect, and will be eliminated four years later.

2. OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo to share food security info [English, CSY]

http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120415000237

Full text: South Korea, China and Japan agreed Sunday to share information on food security and to enhance their trade of agricultural products.  The agreement was made at a trilateral meeting on the southern resort island of Jeju attended by agriculture ministers of the three neighboring Northeast Asia countries, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in a statement.  Agriculture Minister Suh Kyu-yong and his Chinese and Japanese counterparts agreed to conduct joint studies of agricultural projects and to exchange experts on agriculture.  They also agreed to establish a system of rice storage in case of emergency and a platform for food security.  The ministers plan to further discuss how to set up a joint office to tackle possible outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza.  Suh, meanwhile, asked China to help prevent its fishing vessels operating illegally in South Korean waters.  The South Korean minister also asked Japan to lift restrictions on imports of South Korean poultry. The ministers will meet again in Japan next year.

Japan And Korea Put Heads Together on Food Security [English, MGF]

http://joongangdaily.joins.com

Full Text: Korea, China and Japan agreed yesterday to share information on food security and to enhance their trade of agricultural products. The agreement was made at a trilateral meeting on the island of Jeju attended by agriculture ministers of the three Northeast Asian countries, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in a statement. Agriculture Minister Suh Kyu-yong and his Chinese and Japanese counterparts agreed to conduct joint studies of agricultural projects and to exchange experts on agriculture.
They also agreed to establish a system of rice storage in case of emergency and a platform for food security. The ministers plan to further discuss how to set up a joint office to tackle possible outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza. Suh, meanwhile, asked China to help prevent its fishing vessels operating illegally in Korean waters. The Korean minister also asked Japan to lift restrictions on imports of Korean poultry. The ministers will meet again in Japan next year.

3. MIFAFF PRESS RELEASES

► MIFAFF Minister to participate in ceremony for giving out Chinese cabbage seedlings in front of city hall on April 16th.

► MIFAFF Minister participated in trilateral Agricultural Minister meeting in Jeju from April 14~15