Government Likely to Exclude Livestock Products from Korea-US FTA
It is claimed that the establishment of a Korean-US Free Trade Agreement is likely to greatly damage the Korean livestock sector. Some experts state that if tariffs are abolished on livestock products, damages will reach almost one trillion won. They estimated that there would be 530 billion won in damage to the beef sector.
Dr. Choi Se-gyun of the Korean Rural Economic Institution, argued yesterday at the 'Agricultural Sector Discussion of Korean-US FTA' held at the AT Center at Yangjae-dong in Seoul, "In the event the 40% tariff currently imposed on imported beef is abolished, prices of imported beef will fall 28.6%, causing Korean beef prices to decline by 8.7%." He added, "It will also trigger a reduction in the annual production of Korean beef from 196 to 530 billion won.
With regard to pork, he said, "Prices of imported pork will fall 8% to 20%, reducing domestic production worth 250 billion won. Domestic chicken products will fall 7.3% to 12.5%, causing reduced production worth 90 to 150 billion won." He also anticipates that it will damage other agricultural production such as apples (as much as 98 to 150 billion won), pears (22 to 64 billion won), grapes (86 to 140 billion won), and peaches (11 to 33 billion won).
Additionally, he estimated that there would be damage amounting to 15.3 to 21.4 billion won in the sector of onion farming, 34.6 to 68.6 billion won for hot peppers, 21.2 to 29.6 billion won for garlic, 11.5 to 22.8 billion won for tomatoes, and 21.4 to 42.3 billion won for ginseng farming. It is estimated that there would be a total damage in the agricultural sectors worth over 1,500 billion won.
Regarding this argument, Bae Jong-ha of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said, "We will consider classifying sensitive products to be excluded from the FTA, and negotiate those sectors at the third round of discussions with the US FTA team."
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 / 입력시간: 2006. 08.08. 08:24
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