According to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, in the past 3 consecutive months, Vietnam's tuna exports to South Korea have grown "skyrocketingly" at a 3-digit rate. Notably, tuna exports to this market in June reached a peak. Export value to this market reached nearly 6 million USD, nearly 6 times higher than the same period in 2023.
With this result, cumulative export value in the first 6 months of 2024, tuna exports to South Korea reached more than 14 million USD, an increase of 144% over the same period. South Korea became one of the 10 single markets importing the most tuna from Vietnam.
According to statistics from Vietnam Customs, in the first 6 months of this year, there were 15 enterprises participating in exporting tuna to this market. The leadings are Nha Trang Bay, Yueh Chyang Canned Food and Trinity Vietnam, accounting for 86% of total export turnover in the first half of 2024
With a population of over 51 million people, South Korea is currently a potential market for Vietnamese tuna exporters with a high growth trend since last year.
Vietnam - South Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA) took effect in December 2015, creating a foundation to promote economic, trade and investment cooperation between two countries to develop more strongly and effectively. Two countries are participating in Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and South Korea is considering joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) of which Vietnam is a member.
Currently, South Korean market mainly imports processed and canned tuna from Vietnam, accounting for 99% of total export turnover. Of which, South Korea mainly imports frozen steamed skipjack tuna loin.
Trend of seafood consumption in Korea has changed with trend of reducing consumer spending, which is an opportunity for Vietnamese seafood to boost exports of seafood products at suitable prices.
Like Japan, exporting to Korea has advantage of a close geographical location, stable consumption demand and is destination of many businesses in coming time in context of inflation causing a sharp decrease in consumption in Western markets.
While the Red Sea tension has caused shipping rates to the US and Europe to skyrocket, closer markets such as Korea are also of interest to many businesses. Notably, while Korea has reduced tuna imports from other countries, it has increased imports from Vietnam. This will be an opportunity for tuna exporting businesses from now until the end of this year.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn