Save Hanwoo Farmers in Crisis! ... Pohang City Promotes Support Measures

Support for Forage Production Costs, Livestock Number Reduction, and Consumption Promotion

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Pohang City is preparing and implementing measures to stabilize the management of local farms struggling due to the recent decline in Hanwoo prices.

According to Pohang City on the 25th, the average price of Hanwoo carcass per kilogram at production sites in December last year was 16,397 KRW, down 12.6% compared to the previous year. For calves aged 6 to 7 months, female calves dropped sharply by 47.4% to 2,329,000 KRW per head compared to last year, causing increased difficulties for Hanwoo farmers.

Accordingly, the city plans to invest 85 million KRW in supporting fattening of low-ability non-pregnant cows and allocate 1.6 billion KRW to support forage production costs, actively preparing and promoting support measures for Hanwoo farmers.

Calf raising scene.

The non-pregnant cow fattening support project directly contributes to stabilizing Hanwoo prices by fattening non-pregnant cows, which are cows that have not given birth to calves, thereby reducing the number of cows. The city plans to provide 500,000 KRW per head to applying farms for this purpose.

Meanwhile, the price of mixed feed has risen 43.7% over the past two years, from 421 KRW/kg in 2020 to 471 KRW/kg in 2021, and 605 KRW/kg last year in 2022, severely worsening the profitability of Hanwoo farms. In response, the city has increased the forage production cost support budget by 400 million KRW from the original amount to 1.6 billion KRW and plans to continue expanding this support.

Pohang City has selected Hanwoo beef as a thank-you gift for the Hometown Love Donation Program to promote consumption and plans to invigorate Hanwoo farms by actively utilizing discounted sales through Pohang Livestock Cooperative, school meals, and military supply to the Marine Corps.

Go Jundal, Director of the Livestock Division, said, “We hope many citizens will actively participate in expanding Hanwoo beef consumption to stabilize the depressed Hanwoo prices caused by the recent price decline and rising imported feed grain prices.” He added, “We will discover and actively implement various policies to stabilize the management of local Hanwoo farms.”