Vietnam is likely to surpass the United States to become the Republic of Korea’s second biggest importer by 2020, thanks to a bilateral free trade agreement.
RoK products exhibited in Ho Chi Minh City (Source: VNA)
Seoul (VNA) – Vietnam is likely to surpass the United States tobecome the Republic of Korea’s second biggest importer by 2020, thanks to abilateral free trade agreement, according to a report released by the KoreaInternational Trade Association on March 20.
Two-way trade is expected to exceed 100 billion USD in 2020,making Vietnam the second destination of RoK exports after China, said thereport.
Last year, Vietnam outstripped China’s Hong Kong to be theRoK’s third largest export market, following China and the US, up three notchesfrom 2014.
RoK’s exports to Vietnam have been on the rise over the pastdecade, with the proportion of Korean products rising from 8.5 percent in 2007 to22.1 percent of Vietnam’s imports in 2017.
The report attributed the increase to the free trade agreementbetween the two countries, which came into effect in December 2015.
RoK exports to Vietnam have shot up 60.5 percent over thetwo years since the FTA implementation with imports jumping more than 61percent.
Although the RoK's overall exports decreased for twoconsecutive years in 2015 and 2016, its shipments to Vietnam rose 24.2 percentand 17.5 percent, respectively. The country posted a trade surplus of 31.6billion USD with Vietnam in 2017.-VNA
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RoK products exhibited in Ho Chi Minh City (Source: VNA) 
