KAFF is an AFA member in South Korea. They have been campaigning against the ratification of the US Korea FTA and other trade agreements and rules that are inimical to farmers’ interests.
Trading Markets, Sunday, April 20, 2008; Posted: 09:23 PM
SEOUL, Apr 21, 2008 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) — — South Korean farmers and civic groups on Friday accused the government of surrendering to U.S. pressure in rewriting Seoul’s beef import rules.
Groups including the Hanwoo Association, the Korea Dairy Beef Farmers Association and the Korean Advanced Farmers Federation (KAFF) said negotiators gave up the right to protect South Koreans from the health risks of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly called mad cow disease.
In addition, they said that Seoul is endangering the livelihood 3.5 million farmers by conceding to the U.S. demand to remove restrictions on imported beef.
Under the agreement reached after eight days of negotiations in Seoul, South Korea agreed to import most beef parts from animals under 30 months old, with the exception of two specified risk materials (SRMs) — tonsils and distal ileum, a part of the small intestine.
South Korea halted imports of U.S. beef in late 2003 after Washington confirmed its first case of mad cow disease. The country reopened its market in April 2007, but stopped all quarantine inspections in early October after U.S. exporters repeatedly violated regulations on shipments of bone-in beef.
Farmers’ groups said that meat from animals over 30 months old could be imported if the U.S. “pledges” to strengthen monitoring and control of protein-based feed. Offal has been cited as a cause of mad cow disease, which can trigger Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
However, “The United States need not actually enforce their pledge on protein feed for South Korea to open its doors to meat from cattle that have a greater likelihood of being sick from mad cow disease, or have agents that can transmit the fatal disease to humans,” a spokesman for the Hanwoo group said.
Others claimed that government policymakers did not take time to listen to farmers and cattle ranchers on this issue.
“Farmers expected the government to make concessions, but giving up bone-in beef and age limit is too much,” said Lee Seung-ho, head of the dairy beef farmers association.
Others, including the Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) and local health groups, blasted the agreement as a dereliction of duty by negotiators.
Activists said that giving up the age limit and effectively mirroring the World Organization for Animal Health’s (OIE) guidelines was an unprecedented concession, especially since no other East Asian country has given up the age limit.
“China, Japan and Hong Kong consider age an important safety guideline that should be guarded,” a lawyer from Minbyun said.
Scientists said that cattle under 30 month old do not usually carry agent that can cause BSE, although there have been cases in Japan, where young animals under this age dies from the deadly disease.
He added that the agreement seems to have been hastily reached to coincide with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s first summit with U.S. President George W. Bush.
Meanwhile, South Korean farmers said that the expected influx of cheap beef parts like ribs, which are popular in South Korea, could spell serious challenges for local farmers.
U.S. beef ribs are 25 percent cheaper than those from locally grown animals.
“American meat has a price advantage even if shipment costs are taken into account and duties are levied,” an industry expert said.
He said that prices of local calves will be hit first, followed by mature animals that could trigger a “stampede” to sell off livestock, particularly by small-time ranchers, before prices fall further.
The pork industry may also be affected, as pork is only marginally less expensive than imported U.S. beef.
“There is a risk that cheap U.S. imports would cause consumers to move away from pork and opt for beef,” said one market watcher.
If U.S. beef imports surge to 320,000 tons per year, a level that was reached in 2003, the price of pork could fall by up to 15 percent.
(Yonhap)
Source: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1399563/
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