A step closer

According to the DAFM, South Koreans are the highest per capita consumers of meat in Asia, consuming 53.2g per person (boneless retail weight), of which 11.4kg is beef. However, they are only 35 per cent self-sufficient in beef and rely heavily on imports to meet demand. It means we would have access to a market of over 50 million people and, according to research conducted by Bord Bia, Korean consumers place importance on high quality and ‘naturalness’ in relation to beef, so this bodes well for us. It is also a welcome development after China’s decision in November to suspend beef imports from Ireland once again after detecting an atypical case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The Chinese market had only reopened this time last year following a two-year suspension resulting from detection of another atypical case of BSE. We hope that a lengthy delay back into that market can be avoided this time. Regardless, the Government has been looking at breaking into other new markets to avoid having all our fingers in one beef pie, so to speak. Bord Bia is currently running an EU co-funded campaign to promote Irish beef and lamb in markets across South Korea, Japan, China and the US. The campaign began in June 2022 and will invest €4.8m over three years across the four markets. The campaign in South Korea builds on a previous EU co-funded campaign worth €3.8m implemented by Bord Bia that ran from 2019 to 2021 and engaged directly with over 650 South Korean customers. Bord Bia said that despite disruption from Covid-19, the campaign engaged with over 650 Korean customers directly through activities such as trade seminars and buyer visits to Ireland.
Bord Bia CEO, Jim O’Toole said that there will be a strong Irish presence at the Seoul Food trade show in June, complemented by seminars to further enhance awareness of Ireland as a beef supplier, and South Korean meat buyers will also travel to Ireland in June for a tour of beef farms and processors.