Posted on 07/16/2007 8:30:26 PM PDT by Tamar1973
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."
Excellent,...need more corn now,...keep those feed lots busy.
Corn-fed? No, grass fed is the best way. : )
Yikes! Those idiots who go over to Spain for the Running of the Bulls should be greatful they don’t have one of them coming at them! I would NOT want to be gored by one of those boys! LOL!
It happens every once in a while!
This time consumers screwed the farm interest and go for lots of beef. They no longer care whether it is of U.S. or S. Korean origin.
Farm interests and middlemen who distribute beef racked up the huge profit in the protected market at the great expense of S. Korean consumers.
I would even say that any presidential candidate who campaigns for lower beef price, lower oil price, lower real-estate price, and lower private-tutoring price will win handily in the coming election. Especially the first two are relatively easy to do. S. Koreans pay huge gasoline tax. It should be cut by more than 50%.
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