South Korea\'s cheese imports grow sharply

South Korea\'s imports of cheese products have jumped sharply so far this year amid increased demand for foreign brands, customs data showed Monday. According to the data by the Korea Customs Service, South Korea imported US$232 million worth of cheese products during the January-July period, up 16 percent from the same period a year earlier. Cheese product imports have been on the rise since 2009 when they stood at $190 million. The dairy products from the United States accounted for 39.1 percent of the total, followed by New Zealand with 28 percent and Australia with 9.3 percent. Meanwhile, imports of powdered formula declined 6 percent on-year to $66 million, while those of butter products dropped 35 percent to $15 million over the same period, the data showed.