Korea: domestic pork production is projected to increase further in 2016

According to FAS-USDA report, Korean domestic pork production increased in 2015 and is projected to increase further in 2016. Likewise, pork consumption grew over 9 percent and is expected to continue in 2016.

Pork imports increased as EU countries continued to supply pork they were not able to sell to Russia. In 2016, imports are expected to drop slightly but still remain at a high level.

As total swine inventory continues to rise in 2015 and into 2016, total swine slaughter has increased 1.4 percent in 2015 over the previous year’s level. As a result, pork production in 2015 also increased by 17,000 MT over the 2014 level. Pork production is projected to increase further in 2016 due to increased swine inventory.

However, as swine carcass prices have begun to come down as of December 2015 due to increased supply as well as lower consumption in restaurants due to the economic slowdown, it remains to be seen if farmers will continue to increase the pork supply throughout 2016.

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