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USMEF Hosts Store Managers from Korea’s Largest Retailer

Published: Jun 28, 2013
A group of 12 store managers from South Korean retail giant E-mart visited the United States this week for a firsthand look at several aspects of the U.S. beef and pork industries. E-mart is Korea’s largest retailer, operating 140 locations throughout the country and recently expanding into China. Funding support for the group’s visit was provided by the Beef Checkoff Program, the Pork Checkoff and the USDA Market Access Program (MAP). They were accompanied to the U.S. by USMEF-Korea Director Jihae Yang and USMEF Retail Specialist Jun Il Park.

Store managers from E-mart, South Korea’s largest retailer, visit USMEF headquarters



At USMEF headquarters in Denver, the team received an overview of USMEF operations and its marketing strategies in Korea. They were also briefed on the USDA beef grading system and the regulatory safeguards that govern U.S. beef and pork production.

The group’s Colorado itinerary also included a tour of the JBS beef plant in Greeley, the Five Rivers cattle feeding facility near Kersey and the Agricultural Research, Development and Education Center (ARDEC) at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

The team then moved on to the Los Angeles metro area, where its activities included numerous retail visits illustrating a wide range of merchandising techniques for U.S. beef and pork. They also toured the JBS case-ready pork facility in Santa Fe Springs.

The E-mart team members were chosen through a USMEF sales competition conducted earlier this year.

“Being key decision-makers for Korea’s No. 1 retailer, these store managers are a very important audience for USMEF,” Yang said. “They have previous experience with U.S. meat and are familiar with our beef and pork products. But through this activity they will gain a more thorough knowledge of the industry and this can provide momentum for their sales going forward.”

USMEF-Korea Director Jihae Yang (far left) interprets as the E-mart store manager team meets with Greg Hanes (fourth from left), USMEF assistant vice president, international marketing



She added that the business climate for imported meat in Korea continues to be difficult due to extremely large domestic supplies.

“The Korean government expected a slowdown in domestic production this year, but this really hasn’t materialized,” Yang explained. “The voluntary herd reduction plan does not seem to be meeting expectations, and prices have not fallen to a point that would discourage production.”

Yang noted that going forward, the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement will certainly help the competitiveness of U.S. beef and pork. Duties on most frozen pork items have been reduced from 25 percent to 12 percent. Chilled pork items are under a different phase-out schedule, with duties now at 18 percent and eliminated completely by 2022. Duties on most beef products have declined from 40 percent to 34.7 percent, and will be phased to zero by 2026. Duties on most beef offals are down to 15.6 percent and duties have already been eliminated on beef bones, a popular item in Korea.

“The U.S. product that is benefitting most from the FTA at this time is frozen pork used as raw material for further processing,” she said. “For these items, duties are phased out by 2016. All U.S. pork and beef products will benefit tremendously from the FTA, but the biggest impact is still to come.”