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The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) will provide America’s
farmers, ranchers, food processors, and the businesses they support with
improved access to the Republic of Korea’s 49 million consumers. If approved by
Congress, this would be the most economically significant trade agreement for
the U.S. agricultural sector in 15 years.
Under this agreement, more than 60 percent of U.S. agricultural exports will
become duty-free immediately. Lower tariffs benefit both U.S. suppliers and
Korea’s consumers. The KORUS FTA will help the United States compete against
Korea’s other major agriculture suppliers and help keep the United States on a
level playing field with Korea’s current free trade partners, such as Chile, and
any future FTA partners.
Unhulled and Naked Barley
With the Agreement…
The KORUS agreement offers U.S. unhulled and naked barley a tariff advantage
over its competitors (Australia and China), because the agreement creates a
2,500-metric ton duty-free quota for U.S. unhulled and naked barley, which
increases 2 percent per year while the out-of-quota tariff is phased out over 15
years.
The Trade Situation…
The United States does not currently ship naked barley and only exports a
small amount of unhulled barley to Korea. In recent years, Australia has
dominated the Korean unhulled barley import market with an 83-percent share,
while China has maintained an average share of 17 percent. Korea does not import
naked barley
The Current Market Access Situation…
Korea has an unhulled barley autonomous tariff-rate quota (TRQ) of 50,000
tons at a 2-percent tariff and a global WTO 23,582-ton TRQ that covers unhulled
barley at a 5-percent import tariff and naked barley at a 20-percent import
tariff with over-quota tariffs of 324 and 300 percent, respectively.
Malt and Malting Barley
With the Agreement…
In the first year of the agreement, the United States has an opportunity to
export 9,000 tons of unroasted malt and/or malting barley into Korea duty free.
This 9,000-ton duty-free quota grows 2 percent each year through year 15, at
which time all U.S. shipments of malt and malting barley will enter duty free.
The KORUS FTA provides the United States with 10 and 20-percent tariff
advantages, respectively, over our competitors for malt and malting barley.
The Trade Situation…
From 2005 through 2007, Korea imported an annual average of 11 tons of U.S.
unroasted malt, valued at $5,000. The U.S. share of Korea’s import market is 3
percent, and U.S. barley malt faces strong competition from Australia, China and
Canada. Korea imported 47 tons valued at $11,000 U.S. malting barley from 2005
through 2007. Australia and China are the chief suppliers to this market.
The Current Market Access Situation…
U.S. unroasted, smoked, and other malt combined enters the market under a
Korean autonomous TRQ of 146,700 tons. Applied tariffs are 10 percent in-quota.
Korea’s WTO bound duties are up to 269 percent for non-roasted and smoked and 27
percent for other types.
For malting barley, Korea has an autonomous TRQ of 37,000 tons and applied
tariffs of 20 percent in-quota. Korea’s WTO bound duty is 513 percent.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its
programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender,
religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or
family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with
disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program
information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA
’s
TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).
To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil
Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington,
DC 20250-9410, or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal
opportunity provider and employer.