Seoul Korea - Following the conclusion of the Korea-Vietnam free trade agreement, a survey revealed that 95 percent of Vietnamese buyers said they would increase imports of Korean goods. According to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency on December 15, its Ho Chi Minh City office held a survey on 166 Vietnamese trading firms and small enterprises on December 7, three days before the bilateral free trade agreement was reached, and found 158 respondents answered they would increase their purchasing from Korean suppliers once the deal goes into effect.
The remaining eight firms said "Don't know," with no firm answering that it would reduce its import from Korea. The number of firms that said they would increase Korean goods imports by more than 10 percent was 61 (37%). By item, the number of companies engaging in the drugs and medical equipment area was most numerous with 33 (20%), followed by info tech (15%), automotive parts (12%), chemical (11%), electric and electronic (10%), machinery (10%), education (8%), retail (7%), paper making (3%), services (2%), and entertainment (2%).
As to a question why they want to increase imports from Korea, most of the respondents (83%) said, "The prices of Korean goods will fall due to the tariff-reduction effect. Others said, "Non-tariff barriers will be lowered" (8%) and "Consumers will prefer Korean-made goods more" (8%).
Earlier, KOTRA's Ho Chi Minh City office revealed research results predicting that the Vietnam-Korea FTA would increase Korean exports to Vietnam by 26-28 percent and Vietnamese exports to Korea by 18-20 percent.
By Yeon Choul-woong
