A preliminary economic analysis of live cattle imports in Korea

Abstract

Korea is short of resources to raise more cattle to meet its increasing demand for beef. One of the options to fill the demand-supply gap is to import live cattle. However, Korea’s live cattle imports have been small and exporting live cattle to Korea remains difficult. In this study, we examine the current status of Korea’s live cattle trade and assess the impacts of such trade on cattle farmers, beef distribution systems, animal disease control and the national economy. Our analyses show that live cattle imports tend to generate economic benefits for participants in the beef cattle industry while the negative effects on Korea’s native cattle industry are negligible. Policy issues concerning live cattle trade are discussed