More and more South Koreans are opting to buy imported U.S. beef over the more expensive domestically produced beef known as hanu.

The Korea Customs Service and U.S. Meat Export Federation say South Korea imported 28 percent more beef between January and October this year than during the same period last year.

Imports of U.S. beef surged nearly 47 percent to 131-thousand-466 tons, growing much faster than Australian beef imports, which increased by almost 15 percent.

Imports of U.S. beef overtook Australian beef for the first time in eight years in October.

Market observers attributed the rise in U.S. beef imports to stabilized prices and a change in consumers’ views about the safety of American beef, the import of which had been suspended previously due to fears of mad cow disease.