South Korea: Poultry and Products Annual
The Korean poultry market is expected to continue to expand in 2017, with increases in production and imports increasing to meet growing popularity of chicken products. Korean production is forecasted to increase slightly, two percent over 2016 levels, to 930,000 MT, as a hybrid breed of chicken (“Samgye”) increases in popularity. In addition to increased production, imports in 2017 are projected to rise eight percent from 2016 levels, to 140,000 MT. U.S. product was reintroduced to the country in July 2016 after having been banned since the latest outbreak of HPAI in January 2016. U.S. poultry imports are anticipated to begin a gradual recovery of market-share that had been lost to Brazil during this period. Ongoing efforts to reach an agreement on HPAI regionalization aim to ensure future uninterrupted support of U.S. poultry to this important market.