South Korea has been a top destination for U.S. beef this year, with exports up 15% from last year at $686.6 million.
Jihae Yang, Korea director for the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), said the U.S. beef exports? strong performance is mostly driven by high retail demand since Korean consumers increased their supermarket and online purchases of U.S. beef for home cooking during the pandemic. Additionally, U.S. beef is very popular in Korea?s foodservice sector, and restaurant activity in Korea is reaching pre-COVID levels.
On the pork side of things, U.S. pork exports to Korea are slightly below last year?s levels at $189 million through April, but Yang says the higher-value chilled U.S. pork is taking off in the Korean market. Import data show that chilled pork shipments to Korea are up 146% from a year ago to approximately 2,800 metric tons, which is valued at $16.2 million (an increase of 158%). Yang says they?re seeing more chilled U.S. pork items in the Korean retail sector in both traditional venues and in e-commerce.
Yang added that she thinks that demand for chilled beef and pork will continue to grow because families enjoy cooking at home and spending more quality time together.
