Korean Consumers’ Preferences and Willingness to Pay for Domestic versus U.S. and Australian Beef with Alternative Attributes

In 2007, consumer focus groups and online surveys using choice sets were conducted to examine South Korean’s perceptions of and willingness-to-pay for Australian, U.S. and domestic beef. Consumers indicated higher positive perceptions of Australian beef than of U.S. beef, particularly in the area of environmentally friendly, cleanliness, standards and credibility; and thus Korean consumers discount Australian beef less than U.S. beef relative to domestic beef. The U.S. industry could improve perceptions and their country-image by providing Korean consumers with promotional material pointing out that U.S. beef production systems are comparable to competitors’ in terms of “environmental-friendliness” and other quality attributes.