New Zealand beef has maintained its market share in Korea despite the return of US beef exports to Korea, according to chairman of Meat & Wool New Zealand, Mike Petersen.

Mr Petersen, who was participating in a roundtable meeting at the Korea and New Zealand International Business Forum (IBF) in Seoul said that New Zealand beef exports reached around 38,000 tonnes, or NZ$181 million (US$116.7 million) last year.

"The beef imported from New Zealand has maintained its market share of about 19% of the import market despite an increase in North American suppliers arriving at the expense of Australian beef,” he is reported as saying. “It is encouraging to see that our volumes are continuously increasing in this very competitive environment.”

Korea is the second largest market for beef from New Zealand.