S. Korea's U.S. beef imports drop sharply in Dec.

SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Yonhap) -- U.S. beef imports fell for the second straight month in December as consumer concerns and unfavorable exchange rates hurt demand, government and industry sources said Tuesday.

The state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp. said imports of U.S. meat plunged
20.6 percent from a month earlier to 4,933 tons in the cited month. This sharp
drop follows a 20.1 percent drop in U.S. beef imports in November from October.
In monetary terms, U.S. beef imports fell 21.1 percent to $28.5 million in
December, after declining 19.5 percent from October to November.
The decrease is in contrast to solid gains made from July through October last
year.
After placing an import ban on U.S. beef in late 2003 following the discovery of
a case of mad cow disease, Seoul partially lifted the ban in April 2007 and took
additional steps to fully open its market in late June, with imports taking place
in earnest in the following month.
The local office of the U.S. Meat Export Federation claimed that the Korean won's
sharp depreciation against the U.S. dollar caused local importers to delay
placing orders, although industry sources countered that such a view did not
explain the rise in imports for Australian beef. In December, beef imports from
Australia rose 9.5 percent from a month ago to 12,798 tons.
An official at the agriculture trader said on condition of anonymity that the
steady decline may reflect lingering consumer concerns over U.S. beef, which
caused mass protests in 2008 and the dismissal of the country's farm minister.