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A shipment of 6.5 tons of American beef arrived at Incheon International Airport on a cargo plane Monday, resuming import of American beef that had been suspended for three years and five months. Korea imported three shipments of beef from the U.S. between October and December last year, but all were sent back because they contained bone chips contrary to a bilateral agreement. In agricultural talks in March, Korea agreed to send back only the packages found to contain bone fragments rather than the entire shipment.
The 449 packages that arrived Monday will likely hit the domestic market in early May, when the quarantine procedures are complete. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said it will X-ray them to make sure they contain no foreign substances and see if the meat is really boneless beef from cattle under 30 months old, as the agreement specifies. But domestic consumers need not hold their breath. A spokesman for importer Nerp said the shipment ˇ°will be delivered to our dealers, including wholesalers, as samples, and we plan to import the meat in earnest depending on reactions in the market."
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Cargo is unloaded from a plane carrying the first new shipment of U.S. beef at Incheon International Airport around 8:00 a.m. on Monday.
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Imports will start in earnest in the second half of the year, since some importers are reviewing schedules based on agreements they have already concluded with U.S. exporters to buy dozens of tons of beef.
U.S. beef at one point accounted for 50 percent of the Korean market. When imports were suspended in the wake of an outbreak of mad cow disease in the U.S. in October 2003, beef from Australia and New Zealand took its place.
The imminent resumption of imports has sent the price of Korean cattle falling. According to the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, the price of a 600 kg Korean cow has dropped to W4.92 million (US$=W926) as of April 19, from W5.21 million in December 2006. The price of a four-to-five-month-old she-calf dropped from W2.8 million to W2.25 million in the same period. "The sharp drop in the price of calves signals the high possibility that the price of cattle will fall in the long term,ˇ± an official from the Hanwoo Association, a nationwide group of Korean beef producers, said.
At a press conference, Agriculture Minister Park Hong-soo said, "We are considering abolishing the livestock slaughter tax to protect the domestic livestock industry from the opening of the market under the free trade agreement with the U.S. and to oblige all restaurants to indicate countries of origin for the ingredients of their dishes.ˇ± The system is already enforced in restaurants of 297 sq.m or above.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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