Korean pork market
Korea is the 4th largest pork importer in the world, after Japan, China and Mexico. The self-sufficiency rate of pork in Korea is around 72%. Even though Korean consumers prefer to local pork rather than imported pork for its freshness, the import is increasing gradually. Why then?
That is because the price of local pork is much more expensive than that of imported pork: As consumer price, KRW 20,000/Kg for local pork whereas KRW 10,000/Kg for imported pork.
Korea imported 464,920 ton (USD 1,268 million) of pork into Korea in 2016. The largest exporter of pork into Korea in 2016 was the US (137,218 ton/USD 352 million), followed by Germany(86,744 ton/USD 245 million), Spain(71,612 ton/ USD 173 million), Canada(35,237 ton/ USD 81 million), Chile(32,979 ton/ USD 116 million), Austria(18,122 ton/ USD 58 million) and the Netherlands(17,070 ton/ USD 53 million). Quite a great deal of pork imported from Germany is by a Dutch company which is active in Germany.
Most of pork imported into Korea is frozen pork. Around 10% of total imported pork is chilled pork, transported by ship mostly from American countries such as Mexico, Canada and the US. Some chilled pork is imported from the Netherlands and Spain by plane.
The most popular pork cut in Korea is ‘Samgyeopsal’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samgyeopsal’, a sort of pork belly. European countries such as Germany, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands are more aimed at this market. The Netherlands exported 9,626 ton (USD 36 million) of Samgyeopsal (pork belly) into Korea. Some Dutch companies have tailor-made cutting lines for this special product. Pork neck (Boston butt) is also popular in Korea. Samgyeopsal and pork neck are mostly consumed for BBQ. Other pork cuts are mainly used for soup, boiled dishes and processed pork products.
The basic tariff of frozen pork is 25%. Thanks to the EU-Korea FTA effectuated in July 2011, the tariff of frozen pork is going down step by step for 10 years. Therefore the current tariff (1 July 2016~30 June 2017) of frozen pork is 11.3%. The tariff will go down to 9.0% as of 1 July 2017 in accordance with the tariff schedule. The basic tariff of chilled pork is 22.5%. The current tariff under the FTA is 10.2%. The tariff will go down to 8.1% as of 1 July 2017.
Korea has suffered from Foot and Mouth disease since 2011. Whenever there was an outbreak of the disease, many pigs were culled and pork prices went up accordingly. To stablize the market, more pork products were imported from other countries. The import hit record high in 2011 and 2015 when there were massive outbreaks of FMD in Korea. Korea is now again fighting against FMD which started in February 2017.