Today's Date: Monday, January 09, 2012

For Coverage: January 06 - 09, 2012

1. LIVESTOCK ISSUES

<1/7/2012>Korean Govt. to Slaughter Female Cows to Stabilize Cattle Prices [English, CSY]

http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=124501&code=Ne2&category=2

Full text: With cattle breeders in Korea being severely hit by plunging beef cattle prices, the government will begin slaughtering female cows, starting Monday. Agriculture Minister Suh Kyu-yong said Sunday female cows that gave birth to low-grade calves, or those that are smaller than others, will be slaughtered. A team of experts will inspect beef cattle breeding farms in each province to select the cows. This is being done to reduce the number of cows in the country which has more than doubled in ten years to 3.3 million. The optimum number of home-bred beef cattle in Korea is 2.6 million. The minister said the government will use 30-billion won, or 20.6 million US dollars, to weed out six-thousand cows this year, and secure more money to compensate farmers whose cattle were slaughtered.

<1/5/2012>The Government's Untrustworthy Cattle Price Stabilization Policy [English, CSY]

http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201201051304027&code=790101

Summary: Plummeting cattle prices amid skyrocketing cattle feed costs are causing an outcry among livestock farmers. Livestock farmers from across the country have decided to take more than 1,000 cows to Cheong Wa Dae today in a "hanu (Korean cows) returning movement" in order to urge the government to come up with a policy to stabilize cattle prices. The revelation that one livestock farm in Sunchang, Jeollabuk-do Province, that failed to break even was unable to feed its cows, causing some of them to die of starvation, has proved shocking.

On Wednesday, the Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Food (MAFFF) hurriedly stated that it would decide upon policies to stabilize cattle prices, including replacing imported beef for military use with Korean beef and reducing the number of cows, and announce them by the end of the month. The crisis currently affecting livestock farmers is due to an excessive number of cows and a slump in consumption. Warnings of such a crisis have been given since two or three years ago, amid the storm of cow imports. The number of cows being reared has increased from 2.64 million in 2009 to 2.92 million in 2010, and passed 3 million in September last year.

<1/8/2012>Pork self-sufficiency ratio drops to record low [English, CSY]

http://www.koreaherald.com/business/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120108000262

Summary: South Korea’s self-sufficiency rate of pork dropped to the lowest point ever last year due to massive culling of pigs in the wake of foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks, government data showed Sunday. The self-sufficiency ratio of the meat stood at 60.3 percent at the end of last year, down 20.6 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the data provided by the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The sharp decline comes as South Korea suffered a widespread outbreak of FMD, which hit the nation’s livestock farmers hard from November 2010 to April of last year. About 3.3 million pigs were culled nationwide due to the disease.

The massive culling led to more imports of pork throughout the year, causing the country’s self-sufficiency rate to drop the lowest level in history, the ministry said. South Korea produced 569,000 tons of pork last year, down 192,000 tons from a year earlier. Pork imports, meanwhile, more than doubled to 374,000 tons over the same period.

Bird flu not cause of spike in dead ducks at poultry farm: gov't [English, CSY]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2012/01/07/47/0501000000AEN20120107001900320F.HTML

Full text: South Korea's farm ministry said Saturday that bird flu did not cause the spike in dead ducks at a local poultry farm earlier in the week. "Detailed tests using hemagglutinin showed no traces of the virulent H5N1 avian influenza virus," it said. The farm in Icheon some 80 kilometers east of Seoul reported 110 dead birds from Sunday through Tuesday, causing local quarantine authorities to seal off the immediate area and prevent movement of all birds. Vehicle and human traffic were also subject to decontamination to prevent the spread of the disease. The agriculture ministry said it has lifted all restrictions imposed for the past few days and withdrawn its quarantine team.

The latest false alarm comes as Seoul has been carefully monitoring its poultry farms for signs of another bird flu outbreak. The country reported containing an outbreak in April of last year after the birds started dying off en masse in late December 2010. This forced the government to cull more than 6.27 million birds across the country. Prior to the 2010-2011 outbreaks, South Korea was hit by avian influenza three times, with the last case occurring in April 2008 and resulting in the culling of 3.45 million birds. Other outbreaks took place in the winter months of 2003-2004 and 2006-2007.

2. MARKETING ISSUES

Dean & Deluca Seoul Offers Specialty Product Gift Sets for Lunar New Year’s Day [Korean, OSY]

http://economy.donga.com/ENews/3/0108/20120109/43171789/4

Summary: Dean & Deluca store in Shinesegae department Store, Gangnam, offers ‘unusual’ gift sets for the upcoming Lunar New Year’s Day, which includes ‘Specialty Salt Collection Set’ (120,000 won) and ‘Specialty Sweets Set’ (165,000 won).

3. OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

<1/6/2012>Farm, fishery exports hit record high in 2011 [English, CSY]

http://www.koreaherald.com/business/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120106000529

Summary: South Korean exports of agricultural and fishery products jumped 30.8 percent on-year to a record $7.69 billion in 2011 thanks to greater demand, the government said Friday. Of the total, $4.37 billion were processed farm products, with fresh produce exports reaching just over $1.01 billion. Overseas shipments of fishery goods totaled just under $2.31 billion, according to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The strong exports were propelled by the popularity of cigarettes, instant noodles, and non-alcoholic beverages as well as farm and fisheries products such as ginseng, dried laver and tuna, it said. “Strong foreign demand from Japan and China helped exports, while aggressive marketing of products like ginseng herbal roots and makgeolli rice wine contributed to last year‘s strong numbers,” the ministry said.

Soaring lunch prices put burden on salaried workers [English, CSY]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/01/117_102477.html

Summary: Many salaried workers here are feeling the pinch of surging food prices while their income grows at a snail’s pace. According to a joint survey conducted by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security and Statistics Korea, the price of kimchi jjigae rose by 1.2 percent on average nationwide to 5,403 won in December, compared to September. The nationwide average price of bibimbap jumped 1 percent to 5,815 won last month from September, while that of naengmyeon, (cold noodles) and jajangmyeon, (noodles in black bean sauce with meat and vegetables) stood at 6,404 won and 4,078 won respectively, both up 0.3 percent.

Catch of Anchovy and Squid Increases Sharply in the Near Sea [Korean, OSY]

http://www.hankyung.com/news/app/newsview.php?aid=2012010856321&sid=0104&nid=004&ltype=1

Summary: National Fishery Institute reported on Jan. 8 that catch of ten warm water fish, including Mackerel, Anchovy, Squid, and Perch, nowadays account for 59.2 percent of total fish catch in the near sea water, which is a big jump from 28 percent back in 1970’s. However, catch of cold water fish has shown a dramatic decline over the years. For example, catch of Pollack in the near sea water nowadays is about one hundredth of 1980’s. Change of fish catch has to do with the rising sea water temperature, according to the institute. Average temperature of the sea water around the Korean Peninsula has increased by 1.31 degree.

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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