Australian producers and exporters are not profiting from the anti-American beef furore still gripping South Korea.
Right now, both producers and exporters are making little and, in some cases, no profit because of overall spiralling costs combined with consumer inability to pay higher prices.
However, sales of chilled Australian beef to South Korea are up from last year on a five-year ascending trend, Meat and Livestock Australia's (MLA) Korea regional manager, Glen Feist, says.
"Frozen beef is down as importers are trying to keep stocks to a minimum in the hope the Australian dollar continues to go down and prices follow, coupled with the uncertainty surrounding US prices and accompanying consumer interest," Mr Feist said.
So far, most sales of US beef have been limited to neighbourhood butcher shops because major grocery chains, hypermarkets and restaurants weren't stocking it because of ongoing public health concerns related to mad cow disease.
But they were now starting to feel uneasy as they were about to lose out on one of the hottest selling holidays of the year, Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day on September 14), The Korea Times has reported.
Industry sources said the most popular hypermarket chains like E-Mart, Homeplus and Lotte Mart, as well as department stores, had already completed their Chuseok orders in June with Australian beef.
This virtually left little chance for shoppers to buy 'galbi (short rib cuts) gifts sets' for holiday barbecues made with US products in those shopping outlets.
Galbi packs made from Australian product cost around 2500 won/100 grams ($2.69) while product with US beef was marked at 1500 to 1700 won ($1.61-$1.80).
"It's disappointing to see that the biggest supermarkets and retail chains aren't offering what shoppers may really want," Chang-Kyu Park, who heads importer A-Meat and the 120-member Korea Meat Importers Association, said.
But Mr Feist begged to differ.
The MLA, along with retailers and suppliers, funded up to 100 Australian beef merchandisers and sampling ladies on any given day in South Korea.
The sampling ladies were constantly interacting with customers and to date none had reported any customers asking for US beef, he said.
"Most of the consumer inquiry is concerning country of origin labelling and asking if they can be guaranteed the beef is from Australia," Mr Feist said.
Meanwhile, in Japan, a stagnant economy and higher costs of grain have encouraged shoppers to turn to cheaper protein sources such as pork, chicken and cheaper beef cuts like hamburger meat.
Despite all that, Australian beef consumption in Japan has grown.
The MLA recently revised its projected beef exports to the end of the year there from 335,000 to 355,000 tonnes, Japan deputy regional manager, Travers Nicholas said.
Overall beef consumption in Japan increased in June by 9pc to 73,716 tonnes (boneless weight equivalent), the highest volume since 2003. The rising trend was supported by a 14pc increase in imported beef consumption to 46,361t, Mr Nicholas said.
"A Father's Day weekend promotion saw Australian beef rise more than 20pc during the promotion period, as the equivalent of 1800 days of in-store sampling were conducted throughout most nationwide major retailers," Mr Nicholas said.
Comparatively, lamb exports here were not faring so well. Japanese consumers preferred fatty lamb, in tight supply in Australia because of the drought. The high exchange rate and sluggish Japanese economy had also affected purchases, Mr Nicholas said.
However, exports rose seven per cent year-on-year in January to July, thanks to improved frozen lamb export technology.
"MLA now forecasts 9000t of lamb will be exported to Japan for the year, which is an improvement on last year," Mr Nicholas said.
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