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New U.S. Competition from Uruguay

Mike

Well-known member
Uruguay Pitches Beef Trade to Korea


By Philip Dorsey Iglauer
Staff Reporter

Uruguayan Ambassador Nelson Yemil Chaben hosted a reception for a trade delegation from his country and dozens of Korean business and government officials at the Opus restaurant in Yoksam-dong, southern Seoul, Friday.

The delegation, including officials from the National Meats Institute, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and representatives from several Uruguayan businesses, visited Korea from the previous Thursday until yesterday, after a week-long sales trip to China to showcase Uruguayan beef to their Korean counterparts.

Uruguayan beef has been banned from the country since 2001 due to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Uruguay.

It has now been designated to be free of the disease and vaccination will be re-introduced in the country. Uruguay has also received a ``BSE-free stamp of approval from the World Health Organization,’’ said Luis Alfredo Fratti Silveira, chairman of the National Meat Institute (INAC).

Silveira said that only a handful of countries have received the U.N. agency’s bill of health and added that this indicates Uruguayan beef’s safety and quality.

``This visit to Korea marks a kind of grand opening of exports to Korea for us,’’ Silveira said at the restaurant where guests sampled fresh Uruguayan beef cooked at the restaurant by a Korean chef.

Xavier Artagaveytia of Tacuarembo, a Uruguayan beef exporter, said during the reception that although no deals have been made, he expects that the visit to Korea will generate the interest needed to re-start exports of high-quality beef products from the South American country. The delegation visited Korea on the heels of a weeklong visit to a Chinese trade fair in Shanghai.

Uruguay exports about $1 billion in beef products worldwide, 80 percent of which is destined for the United States.

``Even before the foot and mouth disease outbreak, exports to Korea were negligible,’’ Francesco Muzio Llado, director-general of agricultural services at his country’s Ministry of Agriculture, said.

``Although this only marks our entrance into Asian markets, we expect this visit to be a big help in the future,’’ he added.

The Uruguayan ambassador welcomed all the guests and thanked them for their participation, especially Koo Cha-hoon, president of the Korean Council on Latin America and the Caribbean, and honorary consul to Uruguay.

Koo, in his role as honorary consul, executed key functions of the embassy from 2002 to this year during which time the offices of the diplomatic mission in Korea were closed. He also happens to own the Opus restaurant.


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