South Korea Hosts Nebraska Beef Council Board Members in Multiple Industry Visits

“I have a greater appreciation for the decades of work building relationships and rebuilding that has gone into our current successes in the South Korean market,” said Rudolph. “It’s also rewarding to have the South Korean people truly appreciate our visit and to see their eyes light up when you tell them we raise the beef they are buying.”             

The Governor’s Trade Mission included meetings with US Embassy and USDA representatives, a beef customer appreciation dinner hosted by TREX that included a group of beef buyers, food service, retail and e-commerce representatives, and a tour of Homeplus. Homeplus is a large-scale retail discount store with 135 outlets and 600,000 daily visitors. The company features U.S. beef exclusively from Grand Island under the 1855 brand name.             

In 2022, South Korea was a $2.7 billion market for U.S. beef producers. It is still the number one market for producers according to USMEF’s most recent data. Rudolph also mentioned how most South Koreans love golf, and had beef offerings co-packed with a sleeve of golf balls to purchase in stores.             

Highlights for Vinton Anderson’s Heartland Team, which consisted of producers from across the U.S., included meeting at the USMEF offices, where they received briefings from the US Embassy. Taking a tour of the Hangyul LS Plant, as well as a boutique store, where they saw the processing, packaging and sale of beef in thinly-sliced, small-portioned strips that is favored in South Korea. It also included a cooking demonstration of the increasingly popular Home Meal Replacement and Restaurant Meal Replacement Kits, and touring Frank Burger.             

“Every chance to create relationships on a face-to-face level leads to greater trust, substance and validation; developing international trade opportunities is the perfect example of this,” said Vinton Anderson. “I thought it was important to represent Nebraska beef producers in Korea to learn about the market and show how much we value it.”             

John Hinners of USMEF was also present on the Heartland Team trip. Hinners highlighted how influential foreign visits from producers can be, as well as the reasoning for the growing desire of beef in markets like South Korea.            

“We have interactions with key importers and buyers to talk about our products, talking about what we’re doing on the ranch, and in the feed yards,” said Hinners. “They’re so interested because of the awesome, rich flavor they receive from our red meats with corn and soybean fed product.”

For more information and to learn more about the Nebraska Beef Council, visit www.nebeef.org.