SEOUL: South Korea has for the first time recognised damages arising from its
free trade agreement with the European Union which took effect last year,
officials said Thursday.
The state-run Korea Trade
Commission said it accepted a claim from a local pork processing company that
its business was hit by surging imports of cheaper European pork.
The company based in the southern
province of North Jeolla saw its sales plunge by 30 per cent year-on-year in
the first six months of this year, a deputy director at the commission told
AFP.
The commission said local pork
accounted for 85 per cent of the domestic market against Europe's 5.6 per cent
in 2010, but this shrank to 71 per cent last year against Europe's 12.2 per
cent market share.
The pork company will now be
entitled to low-interest loans and financial support for counselling on
corporate restructuring.
Local companies which see
imported goods significantly eroding their own sales can apply for government
support.
The commission is also reviewing
three other cases, including a claim from a drinks company that its sales of
traditional Korean wine dipped significantly amid growing imports of European
wine.
The free trade pact, the first
such deal linking Asia and the world's largest economic bloc, came into effect
on July 1 last year.
The Korea Institute for International
Economic Policy has said it is expected to boost trade as much as 20 per cent
in the long term.
- AFP/wm
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