South Korea One of Top Exports for U.S. Beef

South Korea One of Top Exports for U.S. Beef

One of the top-performing markets for U.S. beef in 2014 has been South Korea, where exports have posted strong year-over-year gains. Beef exports to Korea in the first half of the year totaled 56,478 metric tons – up 11 percent from a year ago – valued at nearly $380 million, up 40 percent.
Dan Halstrom, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) senior vice president for marketing and communications, explains that although the U.S. industry has come a long way in combating misperceptions among Korean consumers about the safety of U.S. beef, this is still an ongoing challenge.
Halstrom: “Pretty good beef growth year on year — up 11 percent on volume and 40 percent on value. It’s really coming across on all sectors. If you look back on post-BSE the confidence factor was in the single digits — we’ve come back with a vengeance from there. A lot of our work is centered around safety and confidence aspect of U.S. beef. With that being said, we still have work to do. There is still a contingency in Korea that still holds the past with BSE against us. One thing we are doing to combat this misperception is to the safety and the quality of U.S. beef is the focus on the branded beef. So we have everything from large guys promoting their top choice brands to smaller members promoting American Wagyu brands. We are seeing success across the board in all the different branded categories.”
Marketing branded U.S. beef products has been a helpful strategy in Korea, because consumers like the fact that they are able to learn more about the origin and unique attributes of these products at the point of sale.

 

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