South Korea’s pork imports made a sharp leap last year as the foot and mouth disease (FMD) devastated the nation’s domestic output, and the nation’s self-sufficiency rate in pork dropped to an all-time low.

Domestic supplies of pork accounted for 60.3 percent of Korea’s pork output last year, a 20.6 percent drop on-year, reported the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFAFF), Sunday. The rate had dropped to 74.1 percent by 2007, down from 93 percent in 2003. It had been showing signs of recovery, rising to 80.9 percent by 2010, before the FMD triggered a steep fall as more than 3.3 million pigs were buried from November 2010 to April last year.

Domestic output in pork measured 0.569 tons (t) last year, a 0.192 t fall on-year, while pork imports nearly doubled to 0.374 t.

Beef and chicken also reported the lowest self sufficiency rate since 2003 at 42.8 percent and 77.4 percent, each. Despite increasing domestic output for both meat products, rising income levels and changing palates fueled imports, experts explained.

Yet, the government holds optimism that the self sufficiency rates will bounce back as the FMD epidemic fades. The recent strings of FTAs will introduce rivalry for beef products, but government measures to reinforce the domestic sector’s competitiveness will push up the rates to 44.3 percent by 2015 and by 48 percent by 2010, vowed the government.

“Domestic pork and beef outputs will make an acute rise by the first half this year to post self-sufficiency rates of 80 percent and 50 percent each,” predicted a MIFAFF official. (2012.01.08)