이 논문은 한국 쇠고기 시장을 대상으로 도매 단계와 소매 단계에 초점을 맞추어 유통업자들의 시장지 배력 정도를 측정하였다. 다양한 유통 채널상에 존재하는 가격들을 보면 유통비용 외에 추가적인 가격 차 이가 있음을 보게 되는 데 이러한 비용을 넘는 가격 차이가 시장지배력을 보여주는 것으로 볼 수 있다. 연별 가격과 물량 자료를 이용하여 도매 단계와 소매 단계에서 유통상인들의 시장지배력을 측정하였다. 추정 결과를 보면, 소매단계는 완전경쟁에서 멀리 떨어져 있음을 알 수 있고, 도매단계는 상대적으로 완 전경쟁에 가까운 것으로 나타났다.

Recently there has been an increasing amount of foreign livestock products distributed in the domestic market due to the market opening. Some vicious dealers sell the foreign beef in the trade name of the native beef during the final distribution step to arouse the social criticism frequently. In this report, we investigated a method to distinguish the native beef from the foreign one scientifically using the PCR-RAPD, a recent gene technique. Hygienical safety was also examined using a microbiological test for toxicity of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and the food poisoning bacteria. The conditions of DNA amplification for the PCR analysis were 1 × Taq polymerise buffer, 1.5 mM MgCl₂, 50 uM dNTP, 100 ng primers, 2.5 unit Taq polymerise and 5-20 ng template DNA, with the final volume of 50 Etl. The size of the amplified product was detected mostly in the range of 0.5-2.0 kbp. The size of DNA, gene marking factor, which could be a criterion distinguishing the native beef from the foreign one, appeared approximately 1.2 kbp. The native beef was distinguished from the foreign beef with more than 90% of confidence by the gene marking factor. This method was expected to be useful in the breed discrimination between the native beef and the foreign one. The hygienical test results showed that, fortunately, neither Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes which form a principal cause of the food poisoning nor Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli : EHEC which have provoked a recent social disturbance, were detected at all.

Highly lethal Listeria monocytogenes, causing bromatoxism through vegetables, dairy products, meat products and shellfish etc, was examined for possible contamination in market beef. USDA, FDA, Malthus and Modified Cold Enrichment methods were used for the detection of Listeria spp.. Samples of domestic and imported market beef were collected from local meat shops at Seoul, Korea. Total two hundreds and six of Listeria spp. were isolated and identified from beef samples. L. welshimeri was the most abundant Listeria species in market beef. Among 206 isolates, the number of L. welshimeri was one hundred and twenty-one(44.8%). The numbers of isolated L. innocua, L. murrayi, L. monocytogenes, L. grayi, L. seeligeri, and L. ivanovii were 49(18.1%), 14(5.2%), 12 (4.4%), 6(2.2%), 2(0.7%), and 2(0.7%), respectively. Detection rates of Listeria spp. varied among four methods. The highest detection rate of Listeria spp. in market beef was found at USDA method and that of L. monocytogenes was found at Malthus method.

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), first identified in China in December 2019, has widely spread worldwide and is an ongoing pandemic. It is expected that the ripple effect of COVID-19 on the global economy including the agricultural sector will increase substantially if not properly controlled shortly. This study examines the potential impact of COVID-19 on the Korean beef cattle sector and farm labor demand for Korean beef cattle using a dynamic partial equilibrium model. The agricultural production value and farm labor demand for Korean beef cattle in the scenario assuming pessimistic GDP growth rate (-1.2% in 2020) with no direct supply shocks fell by up to 4.00% and 0.67%, respectively, compared to the baseline which represents the future without COVID-19 outbreak. On the other hand, the agricultural production value and farm labor demand for Korean beef cattle in the scenario assuming both pessimistic GDP growth rate and supply shocks (-12.7% beef imports and + 2.4% feed cost in 2020) increased by up to 12.08% and 1.99%, respectively, compared to the baseline.

Korea-US FTA amendment became effective January 1, 2019 through several trade negotiations between the two countries. These amendments did not include changes in the agricultural sector. However, given the policy direction of the Trump administration, it is difficult to be certain that the existing Korea-US FTA on the agricultural sector will remain unchanged. This study examines the potential impact of changes in the US beef import tariff rates under the Korea-US FTA, which is progressively eliminated until 2026 using a dynamic partial equilibrium model. The modelling system is simulated with 100% decreases of tariff rates over 2020~2026 period and then compared to the baseline which is developed based on the current Korea–US FTA tariff rates. According to the scenario analyses results, 100% decreases of US beef tariff rate lowered Korean beef cattle production value up to 4.23%. Looking at this change in terms of absolute value rather than percentage, the total production value over 2020~2026 is expected to decrease by 815 billion won compared to Baseline. This reduction in production value in dynamic analysis is 67 billion won higher than the comparative static analysis.