Korea US broiler imports up 22% due to avian influenza, domestic demand

Korea's U.S. broiler imports may rise 22% to 110,000 tons in 2011, due to the combination of a highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak and increased domestic demand, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report.
The country's overall chicken imports for January through March rose 38% from the same period in 2010, most of which were U.S. chicken sales — 20,000 tons; a 118% increase.
As of April 25, 2011, a total of 6.4 million birds had been culled in Korea due to the HPAI outbreak; just under 1 million (935,373) of those were broilers. In spite of that, broiler consumption has risen, due to a shortage of local pork, high red meat prices and fears about radiation-contaminated seafood from Japan, according to the FAS.