Vietnam's exports to South Korea estimated at 23.4 billion USD

Mr. Pham Khac Tuyen - Vietnam's Trade Counselor in Korea - informed that in 2024, Vietnam will export about 23.4 billion USD worth of goods to Korea.

Big contributions from small and medium enterprises

Mr. Pham Khac Tuyen - Commercial Counselor, Vietnam Trade Office in Korea - informed that in 2024, Vietnam's import and export to Korea will achieve a fairly high growth rate and recover very quickly after the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, the growth is expected to be about 8.6%, of which, the export turnover is estimated at 23.4 billion USD.

Vietnam’s key export items such as textiles, transport vehicles and machinery all achieved high growth rates. “ Looking at Vietnam’s key export items, it can be seen that small and medium-sized enterprises have made significant contributions to export growth to this market ,” said Mr. Pham Khac Tuyen.

The Vietnam Trade Office in Korea provided information on business support activities at the Workshop on Promoting the role of Vietnamese representative agencies in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in international economic integration. Photo: Vneconomy

In addition, foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises with advantages such as computers and equipment also have high growth rates. This clearly shows that Korean FDI enterprises in general, as well as FDI enterprises in Vietnam, are investing in production quite effectively and exporting back to Korea.

The representative of the Vietnam Trade Office in Korea also informed that being members of a number of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, especially the Vietnam - Korea Free Trade Agreement, has brought market access opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises.

Moreover, Vietnam also has certain advantages when exporting to Korea, in addition to its very close geographical location, only about 4 hours flight, as well as the flow of goods from Vietnam to Korea is very frequent, so the logistics costs are very cheap. These are advantages that help Vietnamese enterprises more easily access the Korean market.

With these favorable factors, most of Vietnam's strong export products such as textiles, seafood, and wooden products have a very high rate of preferential C/O utilization, reaching over 80% to 90%.

“ Korea is choosing countries to shift production flows and Vietnam is emerging as an attractive destination. Currently, production facilities and investment in the market of Korean enterprises are increasingly expanding in Vietnam. This shows that the opportunities for small and medium enterprises are very potential, ” Mr. Pham Khac Tuyen especially emphasized.

Many challenges await

Besides favorable factors, when entering the Korean market, Vietnamese small and medium enterprises also need to determine that they will face fierce competition. Competitors are not only Korean enterprises but also those from other countries, such as the ASEAN region and Central and South America.

Seafood is one of the largest export items from Vietnam to Korea. Illustrative photo.

In addition, Korea has very high quality requirements, even higher than Europe and the United States. Because Korea always follows and learns the best standards to apply, this is also a big challenge for Vietnamese enterprises when penetrating the Korean market. Along with that is the need to maintain and develop the brand in the local market.

According to Mr. Pham Khac Tuyen, lack of market information is a problem that small and medium enterprises are facing. Along with that is lack of knowledge about consumer trends, customer needs, as well as legal issues when registering products and resolving disputes.

To support businesses in overcoming the above difficulties, the Vietnam Trade Office in Korea is also implementing activities to provide market information, organize trade promotion and support legal procedures for Vietnamese small and medium enterprises. The activities of the Trade Office always accompany businesses, supporting from research to market penetration.

However, in the context of limited resources of the Trade Office and great need for support, the representative of the Vietnam Trade Office in Korea said that it is necessary to have a mechanism to share and make the most of the resources of the parties to implement the most effective activities.

Based on Korea’s experience in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, Mr. Pham Khac Tuyen proposed that enterprises need to have a capital support mechanism through a start-up investment fund or an export support fund. Only when there are sufficient financial resources can enterprises participate in market development activities.

In addition to support in terms of information and capital, businesses also need support in logistics, customs, etc. when entering foreign markets. “ Therefore, building a support mechanism for small and medium-sized enterprises needs to be comprehensive ,” Mr. Pham Khac Tuyen emphasized.

Vietnam's key export products to Korea all have a high preferential C/O utilization rate of over 80 - 90%, contributing greatly to export growth to this market in 2024.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/xuat-khau-cua-viet-nam-sang-han-quoc-uoc-dat-234-ty-usd-367184.html