Vietnam South Korea's third-largest trading partner in 2023

February 05, 2024 | 16:54

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Vietnam continued to be the third-largest trading partner of South Korea last year, despite the slowdown in imports and exports to the Southeast Asian country.

Vietnam South Korea's third-largest trading partner in 2023

According to data released by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) on February 5, the trade turnover between Vietnam and South Korea reached $79.43 billion last year. Among them, exports from South Korea to Vietnam contracted 12.3 per cent to $53.49 billion. Meanwhile, imports from Vietnam also shrank 2.9 per cent year over year to $25.94 billion.

Vietnam has overtaken Japan for two years in a row in 2023 to maintain the position as South Korea's third-largest trading partner.

The decline in trade with and exports to Vietnam was attributed to shrinking chip exports. South Korea saw its semiconductor shipments to Vietnam drop by 21.6 per cent on-year to $12.73 billion in 2023.

A decrease was also observed in four other exports: flat panels and sensors, petroleum products, wireless communications equipment, and synthetic resins, according to KITA.

Trade between South Korea and Vietnam was $500 million in 1992, when the two countries set up their formal diplomatic relations. After South Korea and Vietnam inked a free trade agreement in 2014, the volume of bilateral trade increased even further. As a result, Vietnam became South Korea's eighth-largest trading partner that year, but its ranking surged to fourth place a year later.

In 2022, bilateral trade between the two countries reached $87.7 billion, a 175-fold increase. Vietnam surpassed Japan and became South Korea's third-largest trading partner in 2022.

South Korea to open $14 million logistics centre in Dong Nai

On January 4, South Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced that it has set up a corporate body to open a logistics centre in Vietnam to support South Korean small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

RoK seeks to import graphite from Vietnam

The Republic of Korea (RoK)’s Technology DA Company on January 3 announced that it has signed an exclusive contract for importing natural graphite with Vietnam Graphite Group (VGG).

RoK works to operate logistic centre in Vietnam

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) of the Republic of Korea (RoK) said on January 5 that it has kicked off a corporate body in Vietnam, paving the way for the operation of a logistics centre in the Southeast Asian country to support small- and medium-sized enterprises.

By Thanh Van

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