I was wondering who enjoys eating expensive ‘hanwoo meat’…

Ms. Choi, 34, who lives in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, recently visited a hypermarket with the news of “half-price Korean beef,” but came away empty-handed. She looked at the deliciously displayed cuts of Korean beef in the butcher’s section, but each discounted item cost more than 6,000 won ($4,000) per 100 grams.

“The price of hanwoo is so high that I couldn’t afford it, but I couldn’t put it in my shopping cart,” Choi said, adding, “In the era of price explosion, I felt bitter that I couldn’t afford to grill a piece of hanwoo at home with my children.”

Hanwoo was found to be a favorite grilled food among people in their 40s and 50s.

The Hanwoo Self-Governing Fund Management Committee announced on the 22nd that the consumption trend of Korean beef in 2022 was in the 40s and 50s. The survey was divided into three areas, including consumer awareness, consumption distribution big data, and trend pick analysis.

Korean Beef Association

According to the Hanwoo Foundation, which surveyed 3,000 adult men and women aged 25 to 69 nationwide in January and February this year to find out their consumer perceptions, beef was enjoyed in order of eating out with friends and acquaintances (84.2%), eating out with family (80.6%), and ordering and eating delivery food (79.5%).

The most preferred type of beef was Korean beef, followed by taste, safety, and nutritional value (health).

Hanwoo was mostly purchased in the meat section of large discount stores (40.2%). Among online stores, open markets (29.1%), hypermarket online stores (27.8%), and early morning delivery brand stores (23.4%) were the most popular.

When eating out, the per capita expenditure on Korean beef was KRW 53,000, down KRW 8,200 from the previous year. The average amount of beef eaten out per person was 297.9 grams, down 35.7 grams from the previous year.

Among consumers who eat beef out at least once a month, 7 out of 10 preferred grilled beef, followed by steak and marinated beef.

Of the beef eaten out, 56.4% preferred Korean beef, accounting for more than half of all beef eaten out. Grade 1+ (52.2%) was the most common, followed by Grade 1 and then Grade 1++.

When analyzing annual beef sales and weight through big data, domestic beef accounted for the largest share (46.1%). This was followed by Australian beef (32.3%) and American beef안전놀이터 (21.6%).

Korean beef sirloin, chae tip, foreleg, tongue, udun, and sasang were purchased in large supermarkets, while Korean beef tenderloin was purchased online and pork shoulder and brisket were purchased through supermarkets.

The annual keyword search for “Korean beef” revealed that Korean beef has a higher quality image compared to imports. Hanwoo was often associated with food for infants and high-end restaurant dishes such as omakase (kitchen specialties).

“As the purchase rate of Korean beef through the internet is steadily increasing, we will strive to stabilize the price of Korean beef by expanding the number of online Korean beef markets,” said an official from the Korean Beef Fund.