US Meat Imports Surge
SOUTH KOREA - South Korea’s meat imports rose sharply this year, with its dependency on products from the United States growing at a fast clip, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said Sunday.It imported 5,311 tons of chickens from the U.S. in July, up 400 percent from 1,349 tons in June.
Given that sales of U.S. chickens had been banned in Korea until June due to lingering concerns over the bird flu, U.S. chicken imports are expected to keep rising this year, ministry officials said.
In 2003, Seoul imported 40,107 tons of chickens from Washington, about a half of the chicken imports that year.
Until July 20, Korea imported 26,927 tons of chickens, already surpassing last year’s imports of 23,556 tons.
Source: times.hankooki.com