’Fisheries could lose W80 billion under US FTA’
Chosunibo, Seoul, 23 March 2006
’Fisheries Could Lose W800 Billion Under U.S. FTA’
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister-designate Kim Sung-jin on Thursday said once tariffs are removed under a putative free-trade agreement with the U.S., the domestic fishing industry could lose between W51.1 billion (US$51 million) and W84.9.
Kim said curbs on government subsidies to the fishing industry under the WTO’s Doha Development Agenda could cost it W1 trillion.
Kim was speaking during his confirmation hearing in the National Assembly, where he also vowed to do everything to bring the 2012 World Expo to Yeosu.
See also:
World Knowledge Forum, 6 March 2006
Korea-U.S. FTA to Cost Fisheries $51 Million
Collin Baber / Min-Koo Kim
The U.S. and Korea have recently set in motion free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with the aim of completing a pact by April, 2007. It has been predicted that the new agreement will likely cause economic damage to the domestic fishery sector.
The Korea Maritime Institute (KMI) announced Friday that an FTA between the two countries would cost at least 51.1 billion won ($51 million) to the domestic fishery sector’s production capacity.
At a seminar named, ‘The Possible Repercussion of an FTA Between S. Korea and the U.S.’, held on Friday, KMI Senior Research Fellow, Chung Myung-sang, stated, “With the launch of the FTA, the volume of imported fish would increase between 10 20% annually, causing deterioration in the already crowded fishery market.”
To be more specific, the flood of imported fish would cost 37.4 billion 52.4 billion won to deep-sea fishing, 9.2 billion 21.4 billion won in coastal fishing and 4.5 11.1 billion won in local fish farms.
“In order to build up competitiveness, the domestic fishery sector needs to specialize in areas where fishermen may harness comparative competitive advantage, and by doing so, they can come up with export items that virtually guarantee high profits,” he added.
