US beef accounted for more than 50 percent of South Korea's total imports of the meat in 2022, taking up the top spot for six years, industry data showed Tuesday.

Asia's fourth-largest economy imported 256,910 tons of American beef last year, or 54.1 percent of its total beef imports of 474,511 tons, according to the data from the US Meat Export Federation.

The proportion was up 2.8 percentage points from a year earlier.

Last year's volume and market share of US beef imports marked the highest levels since South Korea opened its market to American beef in 2008.

The data showed the value of US beef imports standing at $2.54 billion last year. (Yonhap)