Vietnam second largest garment exporter to South Korea

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jun 23, 2015

Vietnam has emerged as the second largest textile and garment exporter to South Korea after China. The country’s exports make up for one-fourth of South Korea’s garment market, totaling $627.4 million in the first four months of this year.

Vietnam’s export turnover to South Korea in 2011 was $900 million. A year later that number increased to $1.1 billion, followed by $1.6 billion in 2013, and just last year the total was $2.7 billion, a 27% increase over 2013.
 
Export growth is expected to continue after the signing of the ASEAN Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA), which will take effect on January 1, 2016. Vietnamese textile and garment products that satisfy certificate of origin norms will get zero tariffs, and Vietnamese firms will pay a tax of 8 to 13 per cent.

Vietnam was on the radar for this growth since 2013 when it became one of the top 5 textiles export countries in the world joining China, Turkey, India and Bangladesh. The US is the largest market for the country’s imports though it falls second to China as the largest textile and garment exporter to the US. South Korea on the other hand is Vietnam’s fourth largest importer of textile and garments.