Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MoTIE) and Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said that Vietnam will continue to be South Korea's third largest trading partner in 2024, after China and the US.
According to statistics, total bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and South Korea reached 86.7 billion USD, up 9.2% compared to 2023. Of which, South Korea's exports to Vietnam reached 58.3 billion USD, up 9.1%, while imports from Vietnam reached 28.4 billion USD, up 9.6%.
Trade growth rate between Vietnam and Korea reached 9.3%, surpassing other major partners such as the US (6.9%), China (1.9%) and Japan (1.1%). Trade balance was in favor of Korea with a surplus of 29.9 billion USD, an increase of 2.3 billion USD compared to the previous year.
This result was largely due to strong recovery in semiconductor chip sector. Korea's semiconductor chip exports to Vietnam in the 11 months of 2024 reached 16.5 billion USD, an increase of 46.3%.
In addition, other key export items such as wireless communication equipment and synthetic resins also recorded impressive growth.
In fact, Vietnam-Korea trade relations have grown remarkably since establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992, with trade turnover increasing more than 150 times. After signing FTA in 2014, trade turnover increased more than 2.5 times. Currently, South Korea is the second largest importer and third largest exporter of Vietnam.
In tourism sector, South Korea leads with 4.1 million visitors to Vietnam, accounting for 1/4 of total number of international visitors.
Mr. Hong Ji Sang - Head of Trend Analysis at KITA - commented that Southeast Asia is becoming a solution to diversify Korea's trade relations, in which Vietnam plays a key role.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn