Export turnover to South Korea remains low

While South Korea imports lots of agricultural products every year, Vietnamese farm produce merely a…

While South Korea imports lots of agricultural products every year, Vietnamese farm produce merely accounts for 6 percent as the prices of Vietnamese products are still fairly high while the quality is uneven.

In order to increase exports, Vietnamese enterprises need to cooperate with their South Korean counterparts to together resolve entanglements in regulations. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, total agricultural imports in 2018 of South Korea was US$35.2 billion, of which, Vietnamese agro-foresty-aquatic products merely accounted for nearly 6 percent. Bilateral trade between Vietnam and South Korea from 1992 to 2018 was 132 times higher, from $500 million to more than $66 billion, and is aiming for $100 billion in 2020.

However, Vietnam has always seen trade deficit as the country had trade deficit of nearly $32 billion from South Korea last year; in the first half of this year, Vietnam exported $9.1 billion to South Korea and imported $22.5 billion, trade deficit of more than $13 billion.

Why does the volume of Vietnamese farm produce imported into South Korea remain at modest level? Mr. Hong Sun, vice chairman of the Association of South Korean Enterprises in Vietnam, said that it is difficult for South Korean enterprises to look for Vietnamese partners who have the capacity to produce products that meet the standards set by importers.

Especially, quality and price are the main issues. The volume of Vietnamese products imported into South Korea is not high as their prices fail to compete with those of other countries, including the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Mexico. According to Mr. Hong Sun, the Vietnamese Government should give support in building brand names for agricultural products.