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June 24, 2009
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| The fears of local livestock farmers that their beef, called hanwoo in Korean, would be pushed off dinner tables by American imports have turned out to be unfounded, at least for now. As it turns out, hanwoo can hold its own, with the American imports underperforming at local department stores. Poor numbers have even led some to suspend or plan to suspend sale of U.S. beef, according to several industry sources. Shinsegae Department Store stopped selling U.S. beef at its Jukjeon branch in Gyeonggi Province early this month. The retail giant’s Masan branch in South Gyeongsang will do the same later this month. At the two Shinsegae branches U.S. beef accounted for just 1.1 percent of sales in April, which fell to 0.9 percent in May, then to 0.4 percent this month as of June 11. Total sales of U.S. beef at the stores were just 8 million won ($6,200) in April and May, meaning each branch sold less than 70,000 won of American imports per day. One hundred grams of U.S. beef sells for around 3,000 won at Shinsegae. In contrast, the market share of Australian beef was 11 percent, while hanwoo took 88 percent over the same period at the Shinsegae branches. “People who shop for groceries at department stores are mostly very careful and selective about what they eat,” said an official at Shinsegae. “They are high-end shoppers who put priority on the quality of products over price.” Industry experts also attributed the disappointing figures to negative sentiment about U.S. beef left over from the candlelight vigils that took place last summer in response to the resumption of imports. Shinsegae isn’t the only retailer experiencing the poor sales. Of total sales of beef at six Hyundai Department Store branches in April, only 2 percent came from the United States, while hanwoo accounted for 93 percent and Australian beef, 5 percent. In June, the U.S. share dropped to 1 percent, while the share for hanwoo rose to 93 percent and Australian beef rose to 6 percent. But Hyundai has no plans to stop sales, according to an official at the retailer who said it was important to offer consumers a variety of products to choose from. Even at large retail discount stores including E-Mart and Lotte Mart, sales of U.S. beef are on a downward slope. At E-Mart’s 120 branches in December, U.S. beef sales were 6.2 billion won, which decreased to 4 billion won in March, then to 2.9 billion won last month. By Lee Eun-joo [angie@joongang.co.kr] |
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