(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Thanks to the free trade agreement between Vietnam and South Korea in effect from 20th Dec 2015, businesses in some sectors are pushing exports to this market, including commodities that are hardly exported.
Seafood is one of the products benefit from the FTA. In 2016, shrimp exports to Korea will have advantages thanks to the free trade agreement between the two countries. 7 tax lines on shrimp for were deleted. South Korea also committed to provide tariff quotas for 10,000 tonnes of Vietnam shrimp in the first year and rise to 15,000 tons after 5 years with a import-export tax of 0%.
As the results, Vietnam's shrimp have more advantages over other countries in the ASEAN region such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, while South Korea only give quotas of 5,000 tons for ASEAN.
Vietnam seafood are forecasted to penetrate deeper into South Korean market, with advantages such as lower freight costs compare to some rival countries in South America. In addition, with the elimination of import tariffs, Vietnam seafood price in Korean market will be cheaper than before, thereby encourage people to consume more.
In 2015, Vietnam's shrimp export to South Korea reached nearly US$238 million, down 25 percent from 2014, but the country still is the fifth shrimp import market of Vietnam, just after the US, Japan, EU and China. With incentives from the FTA, Vietnam's shrimp exports to the country will continue strong growths.
In addition to frozen shrimp, the other seafood products such as squid, octopus continue to have opportunities in the market. In 2015, the export of cephalopods to South Korea reached more than US$163 million.
Around 22 countries are exporting cephalopods to the Korea market, in which Vietnam helds the first rank, followed by Chile and Peru. South Korea is currently the biggest importing market for Vietnam cephalopods, accounting for 38% of the total exports of Vietnam cephalopods.