USMEF meets South Korean representatives
A US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) senior leadership team led by president and CEO, Phil Seng, has had a series of meetings with key South Korean distributors, wholesalers, retailers and industry consultants to assess current market conditions and to tweak the organisation’s approach for US beef and pork. It is looking to accelerate the reintroduction of US beef in South Korea and to solidify gains by US pork in the market.
The USMEF team also is working to assess the impact of several key developments outside the US meat industry that are posing significant challenges for U.S. exporters. These include: a series of continuing food safety-related issues, ranging from melamine in Chinese dairy products to dioxin in Chilean pork, that collectively are diminishing South Korea’s confidence in imported foods; and a dramatic decline in the value of South Korean currency, which is causing a sharp drop in the country’s international purchasing power.
There has been a 47% increase in the volume of pork and pork variety meat sales to South Korea in the first eight months of 2008 compared with the prior-year period, reaching 92,636 metric tons. There has also been a 28% rise in the value of pork exports in the first eight months, equalling $194 million, and a 355% jump in volume of US pork exports to Korea since 2003.
