Vietnam to become RoK’s second largest importer: KITA

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The two-way trade between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) is expected to exceed US$100 billion in 2020, making Vietnam the second largest destination for the RoK’s export commodities, following only China.

The RoK posts a trade surplus of US$31.6 billion with Vietnam in 2017 - Illustrative image

The forecast was made by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) in its report announced on March 20.

The report stated that Vietnam is likely to surpass the United States to become the RoK’s second biggest importer by 2020, thanks to the implementation of the Vietnam-RoK free trade agreement (FTA).

Last year, Vietnam outstripped Hong Kong (China) to become the RoK’s third largest export market, after China and the US, up three notches compared to 2014, it recalled.

The RoK’s exports to Vietnam have continuously been on the rise over the past decade, with the proportion of RoK products rising from 8.5 percent in 2007 to 22.1 pct of Vietnam’s imports in 2017.

The report attributed the growth in bilateral trade exchanges to the fact that the FTA between the two countries came into effect in December 2015. In the two consequent years, the RoK’s exports to Vietnam increased 60.5 pct, while its imports also jumped up more than 61 pct.

Despite the fall in the RoK’s total export volume to Vietnam in 2015 and 2016, its export revenues to the Southeast Asian country rose 24.2 pct and 17.5 pct, respectively. In 2017, the RoK posted a trade surplus of US$31.6 billion with Vietnam.

Theo NDO