S.Korea to Allow Import of 31,000 Sows Tariff-free

South Korea, struggling to recover from its worst outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, will allow the import of 31,000 sows tariff-free during the second half of this year, the finance ministry said in a statement on June 21, 2011.

The move to drop the usual 18 percent tariff is part of efforts by Asia's fourth largest economy to curb inflation fueled by surging global commodity prices.

The ministry statement said that the government plans to allow certain amounts of 111 items to be imported under lower tariffs in the second half of this year to stabilise prices and ease supply concerns.

South Korea said earlier this month that it would double this year's tariff-free pork imports to 260,000 tonnes as the country since late last year culled a third of its hog population to contain the foot-and-mouth disease, leading to a jump in meat prices.

South Korea, saying the outbreak had been contained, lowered the country's alert level for foot-and-mouth disease in April. The government had estimated that outbreak cost it nearly 3 trillion won ($2.77 billion). But even after that, a few cases of the disease were detected.

South Korea's consumer price inflation has remained stubbornly above the top end of the central bank's 4 percent target, and although it eased marginally to 4.1 percent year on year in May, core inflation jumped to 3.5 percent from 3.2 percent in the prior month.