South Korea reopens market for German pork

The first three German slaughterhouses and processing plants have been re-approved by the Korean authorities for export to South Korea. The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) has made active efforts to conclude a regionalization agreement in order to be able to resume trade from ASF- free regions in Germany.

Federal Minister Cem Özdemir explains: “Our efforts to lift the ban on German pork supplies to Korea are paying off! I am very pleased that we were able to make it clear that we have taken effective measures to protect against African swine fever in Germany. We are working to lift bans on German pork from third countries, especially in relation to China , and we will use every opportunity to do this. African swine fever and subsequent restrictions have dealt a severe blow to our pig producers at a time when many companies have been facing further existential challenges and associated structural shifts for years.”

Thus, a key sales market in Asia was reopened for German pork. In 2019, the Republic of Korea imported about 106,000 tons of pork from Germany, including about 41,000 tons of pork belly. With almost 298 million euros, Korea was the second largest third-country pork buyer from Germany that year.

Due to the difficult negotiating position due to the constant outbreaks of ASF, since July 2021 also in domestic pigs, and the negative attitude of Korean pork producers, the negotiations on the regionalization agreement were very complex and lengthy. With the support of the EU Commission , which also advocated for the recognition of all EU regionalization measures regarding Korea, a major milestone was reached last September with Korea's official recognition of regionalization.