S Korean farms race to vaccinate cattle against disease spread

The number of farms in South Korea with confirmed lumpy skin disease (LSD) infections is on the rise as the country races to vaccinate its cattle.

A confirmed case at a Korean beef farm in Seosan, South Chungcheong province, on Nov 3 brought the total number of cattle farms with LSD cases to 76, South Korea's national broadcaster KBS reported, citing data from the country's Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs.

The western city of Seosan is where the country reported its first case of the highly infectious disease on Oct 20. The disease has now been found in 26 cities and counties.

LSD, which does not affect humans, is a viral disease transmitted by blood-feeding insects, including flies and mosquitoes, that causes fever, skin nodules, and in some cases death.

The South Korean government plans to vaccinate over 4 million cattle nationwide by Nov 10. As of Nov 2, some 2.8 million cows, or 68.8 percent of the total, had been vaccinated against LSD.

However, authorities have predicted that infections may continue to spread as it will take about three weeks for vaccinated cattle to develop antibodies.

The LSD outbreak has raised concerns that an increase in prices for Hanwoo (also known as Korean Native) cattle and the spillover effect on other food commodities will lead to further inflation.

Experts said any impact will be limited and temporary.

"The lumpy skin disease outbreak does not seem to be the underlying factor behind the increases in the inflation rate," said Shim Myungkyu, an associate professor in the School of Economics at Yonsei University in Seoul.

Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 3.8 percent in October from a year earlier, according to Yonhap News Agency.

This data from Statistics Korea marks the third straight month South Korea's inflation rate has been above three percent.

It is natural that the lumpy skin disease outbreak will have a negative impact on Korea's livestock industry, Shim told China Daily, noting that reduced supply will potentially raise the price of Hanwoo, impacting market demand and resulting in decreased profit.

"(The price of Hanwoo) was somewhat higher during mid-October, but it quickly decreased to the usual level so I guess the impact of the disease would not be that large," said Shim.

Though the outbreak has added more volatility to South Korea's beef market, Yang Jun-sok, an economics professor at the Catholic University of Korea, said beef prices will not be heavily affected because the main factor in their prices is distribution costs.

Yang told China Daily that soaring inflation was largely a result of rising food prices in general, which are due to bad weather.

The Bank of Korea, the country's central bank, had set the target inflation rate at two percent but it said that it expects inflation to stay above three percent through the end of this year.

Yang said it would take months for South Korea to bring inflation down to the two percent range.

"If the oil prices remain stable, then I do believe that we will get a two percent inflation rate but not until sometime early next year," said Yang.

South Korea's Finance Ministry said it expects inflation to ease at a pace that is slower than previously predicted due to geopolitical risks from the Middle East and abnormal weather conditions, among others.