According to Yonhap News,

(SEJONG=Yonhap News) South Korea is set to liberalize its market for nearly 60 percent of agricultural and fishery imports, including beef, from New Zealand under its bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with the country in the southwest Pacific, the South Korean government said Monday.

Under the proposed FTA, South Korea will completely eliminate its import tariffs on 59.9 percent of farm products from New Zealand over a 10-year period following its implementation, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

In addition, 194 farmed goods from New Zealand, including rice, pork belly, honey and apples, will be excluded from market liberalization under the South Korea-New Zealand FTA.

The figure compares with 12 products protected under the South Korea-U.S. FTA, the ministry said in a press release.

New Zealand, on the other hand, will remove all its tariffs on 99.3 percent or some 993 out of 1,000 food items shipped from South Korea immediately following the implementation of the FTA.

The gap aims to help narrow South Korea's trade deficit with New Zealand in the agriculture sector, which reached US$908.18 million in 2013 alone, nearly offsetting South Korea's $1 billion trade surplus in the non-agricultural sector.

In 2013, New Zealand shipped some 25,000 tons of beef, worth $114 million, to South Korea, taking the third largest share of 9.5 percent in the South Korean market for imported beef after Australia's 55 percent and the United States' 34.5 percent.

In total, South Korea will liberalize its market for 96.4 percent of all products, including industrial goods, from New Zealand in 15 years following the implementation of the South Korea-New Zealand FTA.

New Zealand will open its market for all South Korean products in seven years following the implementation.

bdk@yna.co.kr

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