A farmer inspects his chickens at a poultry farm in Seocheon, South Chuncheong Province, on Aug. 20, 2017. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — The growing organic, non-antibiotic livestock industry continues to struggle with low public awareness.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs conducted a study of 203 producers, 85 managers, 13 distributors, and 206 consumers between August and November, among whom only 53 percent of consumers had knowledge about organic, non-antibiotic livestock products.
The remaining 47 percent did not know about such products. Younger consumers were less informed about organic, non-antibiotic livestock products.
At 87.8 percent, the vast majority of consumers were satisfied with purchasing organic, non-antibiotic livestock products. Those who weren’t satisfied blamed high prices.
Another 40.8 percent of consumers bought organic livestock goods for health reasons. Others bought them for safety (38.1 percent), or for the environment (7.2 percent).
As of last year, there were 106 certified organic livestock farms, rising by an average of 1.8 percent every year.
Production jumped from 14,000 tons in 2014 to 46,000 tons last year, rising by an average of 27 percent every year.
At 97.8 percent, almost all of the products were milk related. The recent trend that shows decreasing consumption of non-organic milk coupled with increasing production of organic milk indicates higher interest in organic products among consumers.
Currently, the organic, non-antibiotic livestock market is worth 1.06 trillion won (US$970 million) in South Korea, and consists mostly of school catering (45 percent) and retail businesses (41.8 percent).
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
