Canada struggles in Korean beef market

South Korea is the most important market for American beef. In 2022, the U.S. exported US$2.7 billion worth of beef to Korea, according to data from the U.S. Meat Export Federation. That figure was $2.1 billion in 2023. In both years, U.S. exports to South Korea exceeded American beef sales to Japan. Canada has captured a tiny share of Korea’s beef imports, valued at US$4.5 billion in 2022. “U.S. beef accounted for 55.3 percent of South Korea’s total imports of the meat last year (2022), followed by Australian beef with 34 percent and beef from New Zealand with 4.8 percent and from Canada with 4.1 percent,” said Yonhap, a Korean news service, in 2023. Canada has had a free trade agreement with South Korea since 2015 and so do Australia and America. But South Korea imposes a 16 percent tariff on Canadian beef, much higher than the eight percent tariff on U.S. beef, said Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president of the Canadian Cattle Association. “The main reason we’re behind (in