Beef Quarantine Speeds Up After Korea-Brazil Summit… Hanwoo Farmers Strongly Protest “Collapse of Production Base”

The government is speeding up quarantine procedures for imports of Brazilian beef and pork following the Korea-Brazil summit. Criticism is intensifying that it is pushing ahead with market opening without countermeasures while ignoring the reality facing Hanwoo farmers, who are on the brink due to rising feed costs and other burdens.

According to the National Hanwoo Association, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that after the July 27 Korea-Brazil summit, it will conduct an “on-site inspection by sanitary and quarantine technical staff” in Brazil this August for beef imports. This means that the agreement reached at the summit in February to swiftly implement a risk assessment for beef imports under the “Korea-Brazil Four-Year Action Plan (2026–2029)” has begun to materialize into actual import procedures. The government is also hurrying to resume a trade agreement with the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), opening the way for a large-scale entry of South American livestock products into the domestic market.

An overwhelming threat proven by the numbers, a domestic market that could be devastated
Brazil, a core Mercosur member, is the world’s largest producer and exporter of livestock products. Brazil’s annual beef production stands at 12.61 million tons (as of 2025), with exports reaching 3.5 million tons. That is a volume equal to 7.5 times South Korea’s total beef imports in 2025 (468,000 tons).

The domestic livestock industry has already experienced the destructive power of South American livestock products through Brazilian chicken. Last year, imports of Brazilian chicken accounted for 56.2% of total chicken imports by value (USD 622.37 million, aT Agri-Food Export Information) and 66.8% by volume, shaking the foundation of the domestic poultry industry. It is only a matter of time before this import storm expands into the beef market. Additional demands for market opening could also follow from other Mercosur member states such as Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, with Brazil leading the way.

Its price competitiveness has also been confirmed to be stronger than that of other imported beef. Based on 1 kilogram of meat, Brazilian beef was priced at USD 10.37 (source: GlobalProductPrices.com), cheaper than Canada (USD 19.86), the United States (USD 18.80), and Australia (USD 17.39).

Meanwhile, the management condition of domestic Hanwoo farms has reached its limit. Last year, the net loss per Hanwoo fattening cattle head reached 519,000 won, and the sector has remained trapped in the red for four consecutive years. Unable to withstand the financial strain, about 5,000 farms are going out of business every year in an ongoing tragedy.

The National Hanwoo Association estimates that if import volumes increase by 30%, the price of Hanwoo fattening cattle will plunge by 532,000 won per head, and calf prices will fall by 622,000 won. The resulting annual reduction in domestic producer surplus alone would amount to 408.7 billion won.

Damage compensation measures mired in controversy over effectiveness… Growing concern among farmers amid a duty-free offensive
Although there are concerns that the start of Brazilian beef imports will have a significant impact on the domestic livestock industry, the government has not presented an analysis of the damage that an FTA with Mercosur would inflict on the Hanwoo industry and others, nor any concrete supplementary measures.

In particular, the “Agriculture and Fisheries Win-Win Cooperation Fund,” introduced by the government to support rural and fishing communities with gains from FTA beneficiary industries, has raised only 310 billion won over 10 years—just 31% of its 1 trillion won target—and even that has provided virtually no direct support effect that affected farmers can actually feel.

Moreover, tariff barriers under existing FTAs are steadily collapsing. Tariffs on U.S. beef have already been eliminated to 0%, while Australian beef will become fully tariff-free in 2028, and Canadian and New Zealand beef in 2029. If ultra-low-priced Brazilian beef also flows in amid the duty-free offensive by major livestock-exporting countries, the production base of the domestic Hanwoo industry will inevitably be shaken to its roots.
 

In a statement on July 30, the National Hanwoo Association (Chairman Min Kyung-cheon) criticized the biased trade policy of relevant ministries, saying, “Is it conduct consistent with the president’s recognition that ‘agriculture is a very important strategic security industry’ to put market-opening procedures first while offering neither damage analysis nor concrete supplementary measures?” It said the ministries were ignoring the realities of agriculture and pushing unilateral market opening in defiance of the president’s agricultural policy philosophy.

Hanwoo Association urges, “Prepare sufficient supplementary measures first”
They called for △ halting the push for unilateral market opening and conducting an objective analysis of the damage to the Hanwoo industry along with effective countermeasures △ strengthening state responsibility for the Agriculture and Fisheries Win-Win Cooperation Fund and making the trigger conditions and payment rates for the damage compensation direct payment system more realistic △ preparing comprehensive government-wide measures to protect domestic industries.

Chairman Min Kyung-cheon said, “As the market was opened through FTAs with the United States and others, Hanwoo farmers have suffered a great deal of damage. After enduring rising production costs caused by higher feed prices and other factors, farmers must not be forced to make sacrifices once again,” adding, “If a Mercosur trade agreement is concluded without sufficient supplementary measures, the Hanwoo industry will face an irreversible crisis,” as he opposed unilateral market opening.

The government expects that, as interest in Korean culture and products such as K-pop, K-food, and K-beauty is rising in Brazil, future cooperation with Brazil will make it possible to expand exports of food, cosmetics, and health products, as well as secure Brazil’s abundant key mineral resources. This content was also included in the joint declaration announced after the summit between the two leaders.

At a briefing on July 29, Kim Yong-beom, presidential chief of policy, said, “The Korea Importers Association expressed hope that South Korea’s beef import sources, currently concentrated in the United States and Australia, would be diversified to include Brazil and others so that beef can be supplied stably to the Korean market. It also said it hopes quarantine negotiations and the Korea-Mercosur trade agreement will be pushed forward swiftly.” He then quoted the president as saying, “There are conflicting interests surrounding the opening of the Brazilian market to Korean manufactured goods and the opening of the Korean market to Brazilian agricultural and livestock products, but since it will benefit both countries, I instructed the dedicated lines of both countries to coordinate,” signaling an acceleration of Brazilian beef’s entry into South Korea.