US beef returns to South Korean menus after 3 yrs

SEOUL, June 14 (Reuters) US beef has started reappearing on menus in some restaurants in Seoul for the first time in more than three years, going for half the price of South Korean beef.

And wholesale prices of the American meat, with fillets going for 36.58 dollars per kg, are likely to fall further if a large volume of US beef reaches South Korea starting in July or August as expected, industry officials said.

''Some cuts of US meat have already sold out,'' said a manager at Piatti, a restaurant in Seoul, today.

''Customers' response to the meat has been positive. In particular, people who have tasted US meat before are seeking out the beef.'' South Korea, once the third-largest market for US beef, has imported some 247 tonnes of US beef since April, when Seoul lifted a 3-year-old ban on the meat imposed after a US outbreak of mad cow disease in 2003.

Of the beef that cleared South Korea's tough inspections, 85 tonnes were sold to restaurants and shops, 96 tonnes are still awaiting governmental approval and 66 tonnes were rejected.

''The volume of earlier shipments was pretty small. We plan to import 3,000 tonnes of US beef in July. That will bring prices down by at least 30-40 percent more,'' said an official at Nerf, a major US beef importer.

South Korea has some of the highest prices for beef in the world due to its protected market.

The imports will double if South Korea resumes bone-in beef imports, he added.

The country has been expected to be ready by September to resume imports of US beef with bones, while at present, Seoul only allows imports of boneless US beef from cattle less than 30 months old.

Beef with ribs, used in a popular Korean dish, had made up a hefty portion of the 199,000 tons of US meat imported into South Korea in 2003.

The United States once accounted for more than two-thirds of South Korea's beef imports, or about 850 million dollars a year of products.

REUTERS SG RK1012