Korea’s beef self-sufficiency at 50.2%, increased after market opening

Economic report shows that last year`s domestic beef self-sufficiency increased a bit compared to 2001 when the beef market first opened. According to the Nonghyup Economic Research Institute’s report released on Sunday, Korea’s beef self-sufficiency rate was recorded at 50.2 percent last year, which a 7.4 percent increase from the year of 2001 (42.8 percent). The result is quite the opposite to concerns raised back in 2001 that the imported beef would take up the majority share of the domestic market.

This phenomenon can be credited to the fact that the domestic beef production base has been expanded and the domestic beef has been taking the upper hand over the import in terms of prices and production volume. Last year, domestic beef consumption reached 257,000 tons, increased by 56.3 percent from 164,382 tons in 2001. On the contrary, the imported beef consumption showed a mere increase of 16.1 percent from 219,672 tons in 2001 to 255,000 tons in 2013.