It took nearly four years for U.S. beef to return to supermarket shelves in S...

It took nearly four years for U.S. beef to return to supermarket shelves in South Korea, but only a few hours on Friday (July 13) to quadruple imported meat sales.

U.S. beef was met at Lotte Mart, a large discount-store chain in South Korea, with excitement from customers who anticipated once again enjoying high quality, affordable U.S. beef.

At the same time, in a handful of stores, there were protests from those who still oppose U.S. beef imports, citing concerns about U.S. beef safety.

Still, USMEF reports 5 metric tons (mt), or more than 11,000 pounds, of U.S. beef was sold at Lotte Mart stores on Friday. Lotte officials reported that U.S. beef sales were more than four times what they normally expect to sell of imported meats on a Friday.

“We saw housewives fighting each other to buy U.S. beef,” said USMEF Korea Director Jihae Yang. “Due to protests, some stores decided to pull product from the shelves temporarily, leaving many disappointed. Customers want to buy U.S. beef.”

Protestors surrounded meat counters in a few stores. Some carried protest signs while others bought U.S. beef and then burned it outside of the stores. Police were called in to restrain protestors and seven of the 53 outlets decided to suspend U.S. beef sales for the day. At those stores, customers waiting to purchase U.S. beef became frustrated that they were not able to buy it. Before U.S. beef was pulled from shelves at the Seoul store, Lotte officials said they had sold 330 pounds of beef.

"My kids love beef, and I'm very frustrated that I can't buy the U.S. beef because Korean beef is very expensive," Luis Felipe Maldauer, a store customer, told the Associated Press.

U.S. beef was priced 50 percent less than Korean beef and up to 25 percent less than beef from Australia, which currently has a 76 percent share of the import meat market.

Major TV news reported positive responses from consumers and showed consumers lining up for U.S. beef. In addition, stations reported that meat specialists forecast meat price decreases due to U.S. beef imports.

USMEF supported the event at Lotte with cooking demonstrations, samples, U.S. beef information and in-store advertising. Lotte Mart is the first retail chain to restart sales of U.S. beef since imports resumed in April.

"Customer response was very positive,” Yang said. “Customers said they liked the taste of U.S. beef and were glad they were able to enjoy it again.”

Before a ban was imposed with the discovery of BSE in the United States, South Korea ranked third in U.S. beef export destinations. U.S. beef and beef variety meat exports to South Korea in 2003 reached 246,958 mt, or more than 544 million pounds, valued at nearly $816 million, and U.S. beef accounted for more than half of the beef consumption.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, lamb, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

– USMEF –

The following photos are available with this release:

Photo 1  – South Korean consumers were happy to find U.S. beef on sale at Lotte Mart retail stores where 5 metric tons sold in one day. U.S. beef offers a high quality product at a lower price than domestic and other imports.

Photo 2 – Media heavily covered the return of U.S. beef to retail store shelves. Most reports were positive toward U.S. beef, which will help influence consumers with a neutral opinion to give U.S. beef a try.