South Korean retailers plan to import more food products once the free trade
pact with the United States goes into effect this month, a poll by a private
economic organization showed Monday.
According to the Korea Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (KCCI) survey on 250 local retailers, 29.1 percent of the
respondents said they are interested in importing more processed foods, followed
by 27.9 percent that wanted to bring in various fresh farm produces.
"Many companies are eying cheese, pork, oranges and other food products as items
they can import because they are cheaper than those produced in the country,"
the KCCI said.
It added that 54 percent of the companies said they
expect the free trade agreement (FTA) will lower import prices, compared to 31.2
percent that expected no change.
The free trade accord, known as the
KORUS FTA, was signed in 2007 and will go into effect on March 15. It will lower
tariffs across the board for most products that can fuel two-way trade between
South Korea and the United States that topped US$100.7 billion in 2011, up from
$90.2 billion in the previous year.
The latest report also showed that
18.6 percent of domestic retailers said they wanted to import more miscellaneous
products, with cosmetics, medicine, liquor and clothing being items they wanted
to purchase for sale in the country.
The findings, in addition, showed
that 24.4 percent of the retailers said they will lower prices on par with
tariff cuts, but 75.6 responded that cuts may be limited to reflect greater
marketing costs and other retail-related outlays.
The report showed
that 59.8 percent of retailers expected full impact of the KORUS FTA to be felt
a year after it is implemented, with 23.6 percent forecasting immediate
change.
Local retailers, meanwhile, called on the government to
provide more detailed FTA customs rules, overseas market conditions and training
to better utilize the open trade arrangement with the world's largest
economy.
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