South Korea’s Growing Demand For Cheese Increases Annual Imports To Almost 500 Million USD

As South Korea develops a growing taste for cheese, the country now emerges as one of the fastest-growing markets for the dairy product. These days, cheese consumption has risen by a third in the last five years, increasing the annual import cost at almost $500 million, reported Reuters on Tuesday.

"People are familiar with fermented food such as kimchi, soybean and chili paste," noted food and nutrition professor at Seoul National University, Hwang Keum Taek. "Cheese is also fermented. So I think they are getting used to it fast."

In 2014, Korea Herald reported in their April 28 article that South Korea imported an all-time-high of 97,215 tons of cheese, increasing by 14.3 percent from 2013, thanks to the westernized food taste of most local consumers.

Imports of the fermented product rose to 26.3 percent on-year in the first three months of 2014 at 28,205 tons, with experts expecting the figure to rise to 100,000 tons within the same year.

Biggest retail outlet in South Korea E-Mart noted that their sales of sliced cheese grew by 3.1 percent on-year through April 23, 2014.

"A growing number of people tend to eat western dishes and also enjoy Korean food with cheese or other western ingredients," said Shin Won Mo, who is in charge of dairy products at E-Mart.

Because of the rising demand for cheese, one of South Korea's top suppliers, the U.S., increased their price to a record high, noted The Wall Street Journal on April 4, 2014.

"Historically the cheese price doesn't hold for over $2 a pound for too long, but this year it's breaking all the rules," noted Al Levitt, a spokesman for the U.S. Dairy Export Council.

To date, South Koreans have reportedly been consuming 2.4 kilograms of cheese per person based on industry data. Demand is mostly met via imports, which has doubled to 117,800 tons a year.

"Sales of our food service products such as mozzarella cheese are performing strongly due to growing demand from Korea's bakery, fast-food and pre-prepared meal categories," said Kelvin Wickham, Managing Director of Global Ingredients at the world's biggest dairy exporter, New Zealand's Fonterra Co-Operative Group Ltd,.