AsemconnectVietnam - The advantages of the Vietnam - UK Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) have boosted the export of Vietnamese goods to the UK market, creating leverage for many of our key product groups to exploit this market.

In the first 4 years of implementing the UKVFTA, the average export growth of Vietnam to the UK increased by about 10%/year
Road for development of the UK market
After 4 years of implementation, the Vietnam - UK Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) has created momentum for bilateral trade and investment.
In particular, the advantages of the UKVFTA have boosted the export of Vietnamese goods to the UK market, creating leverage for many of our key product groups to exploit this market.
The UKVFTA has created momentum for many Vietnamese industries to penetrate deeper and make breakthroughs in exports to the UK market.
Informing about the highlights of trade and investment between Vietnam and the UK after more than 4 years of implementing the UKVFTA, Mr. Vu Viet Thanh, Senior Specialist in charge of the UK market, Department of Foreign Market Development (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that by the end of 2024, the UK is currently Vietnam's third largest export partner in the European region.
In this bilateral economic, trade and investment relationship, the UKVFTA is a very important driving force to promote cooperation between the two countries.
If including the first 4 years of implementing this agreement, the average export growth of Vietnam to the UK increased by about 10%/year.
The average growth of Vietnam's overall import and export to the UK reached 9.8%/year, in which Vietnam's exports to the UK achieved a higher growth rate of about 10.5%/year.
According to Mr. Thanh, this level is much higher than the overall growth rate of import and export in general and Vietnam's exports to the European Union (EU) consisting of 27 countries.
Notably, in 2024, Vietnam's exports to the UK market achieved a record growth rate, very impressive at 7.55 billion USD, up by nearly 19% over the same period last year.
Also according to the representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the first 9 months of 2025, the total trade turnover between the two countries also reached 6.9 billion USD and increased by 10.4% over the same period last year and similarly higher than the overall growth rate to the EU and to Europe.
“Vietnam's trade surplus with the UK in the first 9 months of the year reached 5.5 billion USD and increased by 8.7% over the same period last year. The continuous increase in Vietnam's trade turnover to the UK also creates a fairly solid position for Vietnamese goods in the local market,” Mr. Thanh emphasized.
According to calculations by the Ministry of Industry and Trade from data from the UK Statistics Office, the market share of Vietnam's export goods to the UK in the first 3 months of 2025 is about 0.8%, relatively higher than some countries in the Southeast Asian region.
For example, Malaysia currently accounts for about 0.29% of the market share, Singapore 0.48%, Thailand 0.53% and Indonesia at 0.22% of the market share in the UK.
According to data from the UK Statistics Office, Vietnam is currently the 34th largest trading partner of this country and the total two-way foreign trade turnover accounts for about 0.5% of the UK's total foreign trade turnover with all partners in the world.
Many Vietnamese commodity groups have a very good market share in the UK
Along with the strong growth in export turnover, many strong export commodity groups of Vietnam are currently occupying a very good market share, very actively and have had continuous growth in more than four years of implementing UKVFTA.
For example, a representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that according to statistics calculated from the ITC TradeMap tool, the footwear group accounts for about 26.6% of the total footwear market share exported to the UK, an increase of more than 1% compared to the market share of the previous year.
Pepper accounts for 55.7%; shelled cashew nuts are also a strong product of Vietnam, accounting for approximately 90%; Aquaculture accounts for more than 6% of the market share; coffee 9%; textiles and garments about more than 6%.
Regarding agricultural products, Vietnam's rice export turnover in 2024 will increase by more than four times compared to 2021; fruit exports will also grow by over 13%/year to the neighboring market with many strong fruits such as: oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, durians, lychees, dragon fruits, etc.
"In addition, a deeper assessment shows that the UKVFTA plays a key role in stabilizing the supply chain between two-way trade, especially in the context of very complicated world trade in recent times", Mr. Vu Viet Thanh emphasized.
From an institutional perspective, after more than four years of implementing the UKVFTA, it is clear that the implementation of this agreement helps make Vietnam's administrative and trade procedures more transparent, thereby reducing compliance costs for businesses as well as supporting the growth of service goods.
Since the end of 2024, the UK has officially joined the CPTPP Agreement, so now our businesses have more options to choose between the UKVFTA or the CPTPP to optimize taxes and rules of origin for exports to the UK.
According to assessments, in the coming time, the parallel implementation of these two agreements will create a very good driving force for two-way trade to be further strengthened.
CK
Source: VITIC/ haiquanonline.com.vn