GROWTH in volume to all Australian export beef markets this year is making it look likely that another major customer will trigger its safeguard market protection mechanism on Australian beef soon – this time South Korea.

It means our exports to Korea for the remainder of 2025 will attract a 24 percent tariff.

Safeguard mechanisms apply in most larger customer countries with which Australia has Free Trade Agreements, designed to protect local industries from unusually large rises in imported product volume.

Solid buying in the first half of 2025 by Korean customers has left little quota space before higher tariffs take effect.

South Korea last month took 20,869t of Australian beef, up 8pc on the previous month, while calendar year to the end of July, trade had reached 122,400t, up 11pc on the same period last year.

Expana (formerly Urner Barry) reported that as of August 11, Australia had filled 87.3pc of its annual Special Agricultural Safeguards (SSG) quota, leaving only 24,408t before hitting the ceiling.

At current rates of trade, the Safeguard could be hit by mid-to-late September.

Last year Australia triggered its safeguard in South Korea towards the end of October, but it looks like happening at least a month earlier this year.

Some frozen product exported later in the year is expected to be stored as bonded goods to count against the 2026 quota, while chilled beef will face higher duties due to its shelf-life issues, Expana reported.

While the Korean safeguard trigger level has increased gradually since the free trade agreement with Australia was struck in 2014, it has been triggered every year except 2022, when the Korean government waived the penalty as a post-COVID pandemic stimulus recovery measure. The safeguard will be entirely phased-out in 2029.

For 2025, the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement safeguard volume is just over 192,000t (minus the 2024 carryover), with the in-quota tariff at 8pc. Next year, the safeguard figure rises to 196,050t, while the in-quota tariff rate will drop further to 5.3pc.

As Asia’s largest per-capita beef consumer, Korea’s beef imports from all suppliers surged 4.2pc year-on-year in the first half of 2025 to 258,430t, reversing a four-year low recorded in 2024.

The rebound was fueled by a stronger Korean currency, renewed demand, and reduced domestic production, despite lingering concerns over macroeconomic woes, Informa reported. Trade tensions with the US and broader market caution have weighed on buyer confidence, limiting further upside.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia triggered its 2025 safeguard into China in late July, adding an additional 12pc tariff for all exports to China for the remainder of 2025.

Rising Australian beef export volumes to most markets this year are also threatening to trigger Safeguard provisions in other export markets.