Despite the new delays for U.S. beef to have full access to the South Korean market and continuing protests against U.S. beef by some Korean groups, Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer expects beef to be flowing to South Korea soon.
South Korean officials have been checking U.S. beef processing plants again. Originally exports were to resume on May 15.
"The delay involves after the site visits by the Korean officials, which all turned out well," Schafer says. "They had some concerns about in the pipeline beef versus beef after this point in time. We are working that out, but I am positive after several conversations this (Tuesday) morning, that we will see beef flowing to Korea very shortly."
Before 2003 when South Korea banned U.S. beef because of the BSE case here, that country was an $850 million market for U.S. beef.