It's been more than a month since South Korea confirmed its first case of African swine fever in pigs at a farm.
It was thought this would send pork prices surging, like an outbreak has in China, but in fact prices have fallen.
Kim hyesung reports.
As of the end of October, pork prices at retail stores have fallen to about a dollar and 50 cents per 100 grams.
That's lower than last year's average, and lower than average pork price for the past five years.
Prices have dropped mainly as demand for pork in Korea has fallen out of worries that pork may be contaminated with African swine fever virus.
A survey by Korea Rural Economic Institute shows one out of every two Korean consumers reduced their pork consumption in October compared to the same period last year, with 70 percent of them citing pork safety as the main reason.
"I am worried. Even though government authorities say contaminated pork poses no harm to humans, it could be that there's no research on the effect yet. So I don't plan to eat pork for about a year. The piglets from the culled pigs could have the virus too. So I am concerned."
"As demand for pork has dropped in recent weeks, sales of beef and chicken have soared."
According to E-mart, sales of pork between October 1st and 28th dropped around 13 percent on-year.
Sales of beef went up 20 percent on-year, and chicken sales also went up .
On top of lower demand, an increased supply of pork is also a reason for falling prices.
The South Korean government carried out a pre-emptive culling of pigs in order to contain the spread of the disease. Farmers also released more pork into the wholesale market.
As a result, wholesale prices have dropped by almost a dollar to two dollars and 70 cents per kilogram.
Governments across the world and the World Organization for Animal Health have said African swine fever does not pose a health risk to humans and there's no research showing it poses a risk, but concerns over pork safety remain in Korea.
Heading forward, future pork prices depend on whether demand picks up, whether the disease can be contained in the northern parts of the country and whether the amount of culled pork in the wholesale market goes down.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.
