Korean imports of U.S. pork and beef rose at a far faster pace than those of other overseas meat products this year following the outbreak of a contagious animal disease here, government data showed Sunday.

Imports of U.S. pork spiked about 2.5-fold from a year ago to 82,569 tons in the January-May period, with overall pork imports rising 121 percent to 179,985 tons, according to the data by a government quarantine agency.

U.S. pork accounted for a record 45.9 percent of South Korea’s imported pork market during the first five months of the year, compared with 29.7 percent one year earlier.

Korean consumers also purchased more European pork this year, the data showed. Imports of German pork rose about 20-fold from a year earlier, with those of Danish and Polish products skyrocketing 8-fold and 5-fold each.

While Koreans increased their spending on imported beef products as well, they showed keen appetites for U.S. beef in particular, the data showed.

The imported beef market here expanded 43.5 percent from one year ago to 128,863 tons during the five-month period.

Beef that originated from the U.S. in the period stood at 48,831 tons, claiming 37.9 percent of the country’s imported beef market, compared with 31.3 percent a year ago.

While U.S. beef gained ground, Australia, the top beef exporter to Korea, saw its presence dip here.

Australian beef, which controlled about half of Korea’s imported beef market one year ago, accounted for 47.2 percent in the first five months this year, according to the data.

The steep rise of U.S. meat imports, which outstripped the overall growth of Korea’s imported meat market, shows that U.S. farmers and ranchers are the biggest beneficiaries of shortages of locally produced meat, experts said.

The outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease late last year forced Korea to cull thousands of livestock animals, causing severe meat shortages in South Korea. Popularity of offshore meat products has been rising here since late 2010. 

(Yonhap News)