Market share of S. Korean beef reaches 50 pct

SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Yonhap) -- Sales of domestic beef have increased sharply this year with its market share reaching 50 percent in September, the agriculture ministry said Wednesday.

According to the ministry, the market share of local hanwoo beef fell to as low
as 36.3 percent in 2003 after the country fully opened its market to imported
beef in 2001, as South Korean consumers generally prefer cheaper imported beef to
the domestic product.
But demand for locally grown beef has increased steadily this year, even though
the local meat usually costs two to three times more than beef imported from the
U.S. and Australia.
"Consumption of hanwoo beef has risen sharply this year... and the market share
is expected to top 50 percent this year," a ministry official said.
In the first nine months of the year, a total of 144,100t of local beef was sold,
slightly lower than the 144,200t of imported beef during the same period, the
ministry said.
Also, a total of 2.7 million head of hanwoo cattle were being raised in South
Korea in September, compared with 1.3 million in 2002, according to the ministry.
sam@yna.co.kr
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