The Korean poultry market is expected to continue to expand in 2017, with increases in production and imports to meet growing popularity of chicken products, according to a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report.
Korean production is forecast to increase slightly, two percent over 2016 levels, to 930,000 metric tons (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. chicken was reintroduced to the country in July 2016 after have been banned since the latest outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza 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. The complete “GAIN” report is available here.
