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U.S. beef is proving to be very popular in Korea. Imports of American beef were banned in Dec. 2003 on the threat of mad cow disease, but the ban was lifted recently and domestic outlets began selling it on Friday for the first time in three years and seven months. Consumer demand is now sizzling, and experts are predicting a major market shakeup once imports begin to arrive in earnest.
Lotte Mart, the first of the big supermarkets to resume selling the meat, said its stock of 40 tons of chilled beef sold out on the second day Saturday at all its branches. At that rate, it expects to sell the remainder of its frozen U.S. beef by Tuesday morning. Market insiders attribute the higher than expected popularity to the price competitiveness of U.S. beef in comparison to its quality. In other words, it's cheap and tasty.
U.S. sirloin was going for half the price of similar grade Korean "hanwoo" and 15 percent less than Australian beef. In fact, the popularity of the American beef even jacked up sales of Australian beef, which sold 30 percent more on Friday and Sunday than the same period last week. That's because U.S. beef sold out in many supermarkets so consumers picked up Australian beef instead.
A Lotte Mart official said, "Branches where U.S. beef had already sold out were still receiving a string of inquiries about buying it. We plan to bring in another 30 tons of chilled beef around Thursday and continue selling U.S. beef as long as consumers want it."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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