Enlisted soldiers will be served with Korean beef at barracks as part of the government’s efforts to keep the price of locally bred cows from further decreasing.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Wednesday that it has started to secure a budget to replace all imported beef provided in the military with Korean meat.

The ministry was also considering offering Korean beef as substitute for more than half the pork that the nation’s 650,000 soldiers consume 60 grams every day per person.

Korean beef, more often called “hanwoo” here, enjoyed a sales boom until recently, with the price increasing 10 percent on annual average since 2007.

More ranchers turned to breeding beef cattle, raising the supply overall. Cheaper imported beef from the U.S. and other countries drove down the price further.

Currently, calf prices stand at 1.29 million won ($1,123), down from 2.8 million won in 2010. The price of 600 kilogram cow plunged almost 30 percent to 4.44 million won from 6.35 million won two years ago.

Beef cattle that are reared for their meat are traded at 20,000 won per head, a sharp decline from 190,000 won a year earlier. In some regions, the price decreased to 10,000 won, the same price of pork.

Striving to ease the difficulties of farm houses, the ministry pinned hope on the beef consumption by solders that it believes would greatly contribute to stabilizing the falling prices.

Unlike the decreasing hanwoo prices, the military intake of imported beef has continued to grow from 1,842 tons in 2009 to 2,569 tons in 2010, according to a report by Rep. Song Hoon-seok from Unified Democratic Party.

Along with the efforts to promote Korean beef consumption, the ministry also plans to compensate ranchers when they give up breeding female cows that bear a less competitive calf.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)