The U.S. share of the lucrative pork market in South Korea is being fiercely...

The U.S. share of the lucrative pork market in South Korea is being fiercely challenged by European, Chilean and other imported product. As part of its ongoing efforts to protect and grow the U.S. majority share of the imported pork market, the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) determined that Korean barbecue restaurant owners, chefs and wait staff need better knowledge on how to effectively utilize U.S. pork and confidently sell it to customers.

To accomplish this, USMEF held a U.S. pork education program and sales competition during the month of October that included 41 Korean barbecue restaurants and two U.S. pork distributors who supply product to large barbecue restaurants.

The program started with a session to educate participants on U.S. pork’s superior taste, quality and profitability. Participants sampled the promotion cuts of U.S. pork belly, collar butt and spare ribs and received comprehensive U.S. pork education materials to take home. The subsequent sales competition then encouraged the restaurants to use and promote these cuts, and winners were selected based on percentage increase in volume of U.S. pork sold in October compared to September.

“This competition was effective in gaining restaurant staff interest and participation in learning about U.S. pork and using that information to market U.S. pork dishes to end consumers,” said USMEF Korea Director Jihae Yang. “USMEF succeeded in helping participating restaurants use U.S. pork as a core item through education, one-on-one meetings and promotional support.”

USMEF also anticipates that this promotional effort will play a critical role when the country-of-origin labeling (COOL) policy takes effect for pork restaurants in Korea. Currently, the COOL policy applies to beef restaurants, but is expected to be applied to pork in the future since Korea imports pork from more than 20 countries.

Using newfound knowledge of U.S. pork quality, versatility, safety and production practices, four winners from the Tosung restaurant chain increased sales by as much as 131 percent and two winners from Meat Masters pushed volume up by 20 percent in October compared to September. They will be rewarded with a foodservice trip to Hong Kong to learn how U.S. pork is used in restaurants there.

In Korea, restaurant owners and managers have typically been reluctant to label the origin of pork they use unless it is domestically produced since there is a strong loyalty to domestic products. However, following the competition, restaurant personnel are now more willing to identify U.S. pork to consumers since they understand its positive attributes and feel confident selling it. This competition helped restaurant owners see U.S. pork as a high quality product that their customers should be aware of. Additionally, as customers learn about U.S. pork from restaurateurs they trust, they will be more willing to purchase the product at the store or ask for it during the next restaurant visit.

Korea is the fifth largest export market for U.S. pork and pork variety meat through September 2007, with a volume of 67,504 metric tons valued at $162.6 million, a 7 percent increase from the same period last year.

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, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

– USMEF –

The following photos are available with this release:

Photo 1 – Those who participated in the USMEF U.S. pork sales competition received education on U.S. pork attributes and profitability to help them utilize the products effectively and confidently sell U.S. pork to customers.

Photo 2 – Two of the U.S. pork sales competition winners increased product sales by as much as 130 percent during October compared to the previous month. These winners were rewarded with a foodservice trip to Hong Kong to learn how U.S. pork is used successfully in restaurants there. They also will continue using what they learned from USMEF in educating Korean consumers about high qualities of U.S. pork.