MERS Outbreak Hurting Korean Economy, Also Impacting U.S. Beef Exports

South Korea has been a top-performing market for U.S. meat exports in 2015, but a short-term slowdown is likely due to an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Disease (MERS). Although MERS is not a food safety issue, the restaurant industry has been hit particularly hard. U.S. Meat Export Federation Senior Vice President Joel Haggard shares more
Haggard: “The disease has been in Korea for a month and is continuing to have a major impact on society and the economy. Food service businesses have been hit really hard with many restaurants reporting deep declines in revenue some over 50 percent decline. Hotels have suffered from many tour cancellations and that represents another large group of consumers. Although retail stores are reporting lower traffic as well, retail food sales and especially online food sales have held up due to more at-home food consumption.”
Haggard compares this epidemic to one in Hong Kong over 10 years ago.
Haggard: “The SARS outbreak in Hong Kong in 2003 lasted three months and infected over 1,700 residents. Towards the end, Hong Kong was a ghost town. Some iconic hotels reported no guests and many airlines were canceling flights in and out of Hong Kong. Now we are no where near that situation with MERS in Korea. At the moment, it looks like authorities have this under control and we expect to see an impact that is relatively short-lived.”