South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested and indicted after briefly imposing martial law in December. Yoon also faces an impeachment trial to determine if he is formally removed from office.
U.S. Meat Export Federation Vice President of Asia Pacific Jihae Yang is a lifelong resident of Seoul. Yang explains that while the political turmoil has further weakened Korea’s currency, consumers are largely unfazed by the situation. It has not impacted demand for U.S. red meat. South Korea is a leading market for U.S. beef and pork exports.
“Ordinary people’s daily lives are not affected at the moment, and the people are living their own lives,” Yang explains. “The political issues have been there for many, many years, and then the plutocracy between the current ruling party and the opposition party has been started since President Yoon took office, and it only intensified since the new administration was in charge.”
While most Korean consumers are taking the country’s political instability in stride, it has further
weakened the Korean currency against the dollar.
“Importers’ profitability was impacted a lot already because of the high exchange rate and the tight beef supply from the U.S.,” Yang says. “But I don’t think that it will affect the consumption in general.”
Year-end sales at the retail level in South Korea proved to do well. Yang says consumers opted to enjoy meals and parties at home. Foodservice sales did not do as well, but the upcoming holiday is projected to benefit meat sales.
“For the short term, we are approaching the Lunar New Year’s holiday. It will last at least seven to nine days next week,” Yang says. “Meat is the last item that the consumers will reduce when the economy is really bad. But Korea is not at that stage to reduce meat consumption because of this political impact or the concern on the economy.”
