Today's Date:     Tuesday, February 14, 2012

1. BILATERAL/MULTILATERAL ISSUES

KORUS-FTA Renegotiations Become General Election Point of Contention [English, CSY]

http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201202101133107&code=790101

Summary: The Democratic United Party and Unified Progressive Party a couple of days ago sent letters to US President Barack Obama and the heads of the US Senate and Congress calling for a suspension of measures to bring the KORUS FTA into effect and renegotiations.   DUP chairwoman Han Myeong-sook said that if poison pills in the KORUS FTA weren't corrected through renegotiations, her party would abolish the agreement by taking control of the 19th National Assembly and the presidential administration in the next elections.   Some 96 lawmakers from both parties signed the letters. With the two parties and civic society making bold resolutions to block the FTA from going into effect, the question of renegotiating the KORUS FTA has become a core issue in the upcoming general election in April.

Supports for the loss from KORUS FTA should be realized [Korean: YJY]

http://www.nongmin.com/article/ar_detail.htm?ar_id=198785

Summary: KREI expected in the Agriculture Outlook 2012 that if the current 5-level inspection negotiation runs smoothly, imports of fresh apple amounting to 9,000 tons will flow into Korea from the United States after September.  The Korean market will be particularly affected by increased imports of oranges, cherries, and processed food from spring to summer.  Experts say that instead of unilaterally pushing forward with trade negotiations, changes should be made in laws concerning negotiation process to strengthen checks and balance.  Also, there were calls for alteration of the current ineffective subsidies program that is more moderate compared to the previous one under Korea-EU FTA.  Also, attempts to decrease production cost and foster tax-free income should be further expanded as the rice and chicken sector are excluded.  Other tasks include decreasing interest rate and legislating law regarding lending agricultural machines.

Opposition Party Delivers Letter to President Obama Asking him to Stop the KORUS FTA [Korean: BYK]

http://news.kbs.co.kr/politics/2012/02/09/2432518.html

Summary: The opposition party has chosen the suspension of the KORUS FTA as its key issue in the upcoming general elections.  They even sent a letter to President Obama.  The ruling Saenuri Party is calling such action as self-denial. 

South Korea-China FTYA negotiations on the horizon [English: BYK]

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_business/518226.html

Summary: Official procedures are under way toward negotiations for a free trade agreement between South Korea and China. Bilateral talks are expected to start sometime around April or May.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade plans to hold a hearing on Feb. 24 at the Coex Convention Center in the Samseong neighborhood of Seoul’s Gangnam district. The regulations do not stipulate a set number of hearings and the ministry has decided to hold only the one hearing on the South Korea-China FTA.

2. LIVESTOCK ISSUES

Court judges that a meat dealer that sold beef that was suspected for BSE is not guilty [Korean: BYK]

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=001&aid=0005507138

Summary: The Seoul South Regional Court judged that a meat dealer that sold U.S. beef that was suspected for BSE is not guilty.  The meat dealer illegally sold beef that had been set aside to be discarded.  The court stated that you cannot judge that a hazardous material is contained in a livestock product just based on a hypothesis about its hazard.  It also judged that the decision by MIFAFF and QIA to destroy the product was made after taking into consideration of the general people’s sentiment and had nothing to do with BSE.  The meat handler illegally distributed 12 MT of U.S. beef that was to be destroyed due to suspicion over BSE in 2004.

Stabilization of supply of beef urgent [Korean: YJY]

http://www.nongmin.com/cow/ar_detail.htm?ar_id=198806

Summary: Since 70% of 170,000 farmers raising cows have less than 20 cows, shipment control cannot be left to the farmers.  Hence, in order to stabilize the supply and price of beef, some argue that policy framework should be provided.  They include forming unions according to different types of cows through contract manufacturing or raising.  Also, some pointed out that the drop in Korean beef price can be attributed to increase in beef imports rather than increase in the number of cows raised. 　　

Prices of Korean cattle rise while chicken prices go down [Korean: CJW]

http://news.mk.co.kr/newsRead.php?year=2012&no=94726
Summary: The price of Korean cattle has gone up to the relief of livestock farmers while there has been a sharp decline in the consumption of chicken, and in turn, a price decrease.  According to Korea Chicken Council (KCC), chicken price has recorded 1,980 won per kg, 26% lower than last year’s highest price.

The BSE Prion can easily transmit to other species [Korean: BYK]

http://news.dongascience.com/PHP/NewsView.php?kisaid=20120129200002274910

Summary: The cover sheet of this week’s Science magazine carried a picture of the BSE prion.  According to a study conducted by the France National Agricultural Research Institute, prion has been found to transmit into other species rather easily.

3. MARKETING ISSUES

Home Plus Now Has 23 Virtual Stores [Korean, OSY]

http://www.asiae.co.kr/news/view.htm?idxno=2012020810204855297

Summary: Home Plus, the second largest hypermarket store chain, reported that the number of its ‘virtual store’ has increased to 23 since launching in August 2011.  Total sales from the virtual stores was 670 million won in January 2012.  According to Home Plus, young consumers in 20’s and 30’s accounted for 65 percent of the sales.

Seoul City Government to Force Large Scale Retailers to Take Day Offs Two Times a Month [Korean, OSY]

http://news.hankooki.com/lpage/society/201202/h2012020823182821950.htm

Summary: Under the implementation of revised retail industry development act, Seoul City Government plans to mandate large scale retail stores in Seoul to take two days of offs per month starting from March 2012.  In addition, these stores will not be allowed to operate between 0:00 and 8:00 a.m.  A total of 64 hypermarkets and 267 ‘Super supermarkets (SSM)’ will be subject to the regulation.  Retail industry is strongly opposing to the regulation.

4. OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

Falling broiler price and reduced demand in January [Korean, CSY]

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=101&oid=001&aid=0005508578

Summary:  Retail broiler price at mart decreased by 20 percent in January compared the same month in 2011. The broiler industry analyzed that the current price down resulted from the increased parental stock (PS) and import volume since early 2011. In addition, the industry said that the recovered domestic pork and beef supply from the FMD outbreak in November 2010 made the consumers to buy more red meat than broiler meat.

Prices of imported farm products soar in Jan.: customs data [English, CSY]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2012/02/09/23/0501000000AEN20120209007100320F.HTML

Full text: Prices of imported agricultural, livestock and fishery products grew nearly 10 percent on-year in January, customs data showed Thursday, indicating that expensive farm products are exerting upward pressure on inflation.   The import price index for such products stood at 129.8 in January, up 9.5 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to the data offered by the Korea Customs Service.   Imported prices of chicken meat surged 24.9 percent over the cited period, while prices of crabs, pollack, hairtails and anchovies rose 70 percent, 24.3 percent, 15.1 percent and 19.5 percent, respectively.   Pork and beef imports also saw their prices increase 16 percent and 4.6 percent on-year each in January, the data showed.   Of imported produce, ginger and garlic prices rose 54.5 percent and 26.3 percent, while those of onions and pumpkins fell 15.7 percent and 22.4 percent.   Farm product prices have been monitored closely by the government, which is struggling to tackle inflation partly driven up by high food prices. Last year, the nation's consumer prices jumped 4 percent from a year earlier, hitting the upper ceiling of the central bank's 2-4 percent target band.

Farm ministry to spend W152.2 bln on R&D [English, CSY]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2012/02/12/0501000000AEN20120212001500320.HTML

Summary: South Korea's farm ministry said Sunday it plans to spend 152.2 billion won (US$135.3 million) this year on research and development (R&D), up 3.3 percent from the previous year.  Around one-third of the 2012 R&D spending will be used to support technology development in the biotech sector, while the remainder will be spent on projects such as boosting exports and developing high-value food products, according to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Yonhap: Farm Ministry to Spend W152.2 Bln on R&D[English, MGF]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr
SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's farm ministry said Sunday it plans to spend 152.2 billion won (US$135.3 million) this year on research and development (R&D), up 3.3 percent from the previous year.  Around one-third of the 2012 R&D spending will be used to support technology development in the biotech sector, while the remainder will be spent on projects such as boosting exports and developing high-value food products, according to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The ministry said it will also inject 4 billion won to support technology development to counter cattle diseases and another 2.3 billion won to develop the so-called "golden seeds."  Last year, the farm ministry announced a 10-year plan to spend 814 billion won to develop more than 20 important seeds that could fuel growth in the local seed industry.

Carcinogenic chopsticks exposed over the last 8 months [Korean: CJW]

http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/02/13/2012021300218.html

Summary: Korea Food & Drug Administration (KFDA) failed to announce that 10,000 pairs of imported chopsticks were found to contain more than the standard amount of carcinogenic substances.  Government failed to collect the carcinogenic chopsticks and they are currently distributed on the market.  According to KFDA official, “imported chopsticks from China were fully safety tested and the results were informed to import enterprise but only 1.2kg out of 200kg of imports were withdrawn and the rest were released on the market.”

Energy Drinks Get Popular Among Youngsters [Korean, OSY]

http://news.donga.com/Economy/New/3/01/20120208/43893231/1

Summary: Energy drinks, such as ‘Red Bull’ and ‘Hot Six’, are reportedly getting popular among young people in bars and clubs.  New cocktail recipes that incorporate energy drinks are asked by many young consumers who want to stay awake through the late night.  Students preparing for SAT are also a heavy user group of the energy drinks.  Leading retail stores have picked energy drink as a most rapidly growing product category in the second half last year. 

Korean Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) ask refrain from purchasing products that claimed to contain Tongkat Ali. [Korean: CJW]
http://app.yonhapnews.co.kr/YNA/Basic/article/new_search/YIBW_showSearchArticle_New.aspx?searchpart=article&searchtext=%ec%8b%9d%ec%95%bd%ec%b2%ad&contents_id=AKR20120208197700017
Summay: Korean Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) asked consumers not to buy Tongkat Ali products online.  Tongkat Ali is a Southeast Asian botanical used traditionally to enhance energy levels. But in the U.S. and Japan, Tongkat Ali is not recognized as a food supplement for safety reasons.  KFDA has asked the online sites to stop the sale of the Malaysian Tongkat Ali immediately.

5. MIFAFF PRESS RELEASES

► In 2011, indication of origin was fulfilled by 71% of 1,835 businesses.

► MIFAFF hosted a conference as part of efforts to invigorate investment of research and development for the foreign agriculture

► MIFAFF announced standard check for agricultural services 

► MIFAFF discovered 984 local resources that can be employed as an original resource for local business

► The third session of the Preparatory Conference for the establishment of the Commission of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) was held in Santiago, Chile between 30 January to 3 February 2012.

► National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service  along with 230 special
judicial police officers met to discuss guideline on cross-border fraud and the misbranding of agricultural products.

► MIFAFF announced that the number of high-income earners will top 20,000 in the not-so-distant future