Agricultural News
US Beef Exports to South Korea Show Impressive Strength Thanks to Beef Council Marketing Efforts
Fri, 08 Sep 2017 11:17:06 CDT
US beef exports have performed great so far in 2017, especially exports going into markets in the Asia-Pacific Rim including two very important US beef markets, Japan and South Korea. Oklahoma Beef Council Executive Director Heather Buckmaster explained why South Korea has become and continues to grow as a major buyer of US beef, during a recent visit in studio with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays.
"South Korea has been a great market for us the last few years when you consider that at one point in time, they were protesting in the streets," Buckmaster said. "Now, it's one of our highest valued markets today."
Currently, beef exports to South Korea for the first half of the year, are up by 13 percent in volume from a year ago; over 83,000 mt.; and over 21 percent in value at $527 million. The US has also captured more than 50 percent of Korea's chilled beef market, totaling near 19,000 mt. valued at $166 million. One of the main reasons our product is doing so well, is thanks to one of the world's largest retailers - Costco - which has 14 storefront locations throughout South Korea.
"This past year, we had a huge highlight, and that was when Costco brought in and replaced all Australian beef with US beef," Buckmaster reported, adding that this increased incremental beef sales for the US by 33 million pounds. "That was a result of a multilayer effort by the US Meat Export Federation and in part, by the Beef Checkoff."
Listen to Heather Buckmaster of the Oklahoma Beef Council and Farm Director Ron Hays discuss the strength of US beef export performance in South Korea and learn how the Beef Council is working to keep it that way, on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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