000370 Nations Halt Meat Imports From Korea, Japan

SEOUL - Australia and Singapore joined three other nations in suspending imports of beef and pork from South Korea and Japan as concern spread over disease found in cattle.

Korean authorities said it could take up to a week to establish whether an illness affecting two cows on Sunday is foot-and-mouth disease, which is fatal and highly contagious on cattle and pigs. But it cannot be transmitted to humans.

Japan suspended imports from Korea on Tuesday and said it would impose an outright ban on Korean pork and beef if they were found to be infected with the foot-and-mouth disease.

South Korea imposed a similar suspension after Japanese authorities said they too had discovered a cow suspected to be infected with the disease.

The outbreaks forced authorities in the two countries to destroy the infected cattle and more than 100 others. They also imposed strict bans on transporting animals at hundreds of farms in the vicinity of the outbreaks.

Australia suspended the import of dairy products from Japan and Korea, while Singapore suspended Japanese beef imports. Taiwan suspended beef and dairy products from Japan and meat and dairy products from Korea on Tuesday.

But China, which imports very little meat from Japan and South Korea and no dairy products, said it had not yet banned such imports from the two countries and would study the issue further.

Japan's Agriculture Ministry said it suspected straw imported from Taiwan, where foot-and-mouth disease cases have been reported over the last three years, might have infected the cow in Japan.

Taiwan's pork and feed sectors were rocked by an island-wide outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 1997, forcing farmers to kill a quarter of the island's 14 million hogs and destroy what had been a $1.55 billion-a-year pork export industry.

KOREA SEEN HURT MOST

The wave of import curbs is expected to hit the South Korean meat industry a lot harder than Japan, industry sources said.

South Korea exported 80,279 tonnes of pork last year, or some 11% of its total production, the Korea Swine Association said. It exports no beef.

Japan accounts for almost all of South Korea's pork exports, which this year have been targeted at $400 million, or 90,000 tonnes.

“If Korea cannot export pork to Japan, there is no other overseas market to export because of its high prices,” Cho Gun-hyung, manager of the state-run Korea Cold Storage Co Ltd, one of the country's three major pork sellers, said.

The Korean government, citing possible turmoil to the domestic market which could come from a sudden excess supply of pork, announced it would buy up the 6,000 hogs meant for export each day.

“We have decided to buy 6,000 head of export-destined pork for 858 million won ($772,000) a day until Japan removes its suspension of Korea's pork imports,” said Suh Kyu-yong, assistant minister of agriculture and forestry.

Japan, however, does not expect any major impact from the suspensions as its exports of meat and dairy products are negligible, an Agriculture Ministry official said.

Japan exported only 22 tonnes of beef and less than one tonne of pork in January, mainly for consumption by Japanese living abroad, the ministry said.

OPPORTUNITY FOR OTHERS

Japanese trade houses said they had started seeking alternative pork suppliers after the government's suspension of imports from South Korea.

In fiscal 1998, Japan produced 904,000 tonnes and imported 546,000 tonnes pork. Korea accounted for about 10% of the imports, the Japan's Agriculture Ministry said.

Traders said the United States, Mexico and Canada would be alternative suppliers for chilled pork. Denmark, Canada and the United States could supply frozen pork.

The Australian government said it would closely monitor consumer reactions in Japan for a chance to increase its stake in what is already one of its largest beef export markets.

On the other hand, Australia also fears a possible backlash from Japanese consumers who might think there could be a link to all cattle. Australia exported more than 320,000 tonnes of beef to Japan last year.

FEED MARKETS FEAR IMPACT

Feed producers in Japan and Korea are closely watching the suspensions and probes into the nature of the disease found in both countries.

Analysts say if it proves to be foot-and-mouth disease, it could have a devastating effect on feed makers.

Share prices of Korean feed producers and exporters reflected the fears, with Daesang Feed down 11% to 1,850 won. Woo Sung Feed fell almost nine percent to 9,900 won.

“About 70% of the country's total feed production will die in the worst case if this turns out to be foot-and-mouth disease,” said an official with the Korea Feed Association (KFA).

He said pig feed forms about 33% of total output and cattle feed about 30%. Korea's compound feed output totalled 14,855,712 tonnes in 1999, up 5.0% from 1998, the KFA says.

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com