Vietnam provides the largest amount of shrimp to RoK

          A year after the Vietnam - Republic of Korea (RoK) free trade agreement came into force, Vietnam is the largest shrimp supplier to the RoK, providing 49 percent of Korean total shrimp imports.

In 2016, Vietnam’s shrimp exports to the RoK increased 13.6 percent compared to 2015. In the first quarter of 2017, the RoK’s shrimp imports from Vietnam, Thailand and Ecuador rose 5.3 percent, 24.7 percent and 4.1 percent respectively. The RoK is the fifth largest market for Vietnamese shrimp after Japan, the EU, the US and China. 

In 2014, Vietnam surpassed China to become the number one shrimp supplier in the RoK. After a fall of 12.2 percent in January 2017, Vietnam’s shrimp exports to the RoK grew 72 percent in February and 52 percent in March. 

​In the first quarter of this year, Vietnam earned 61.8 million USD from the exports, up 30.8 percent over the same period last year. According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, Vietnam enjoys import tax of 10 percent, lower than  other competitors including China, India and Ecuador. 

From April 1, 2018, Korean frozen shrimp imports will be required to obtain import certificates under import regulations adjustments by  the National Fishery Products Quality Management Service to protect Korea’s aquatic ecosystem. According to Tran Van Pham, Stapimex executive in Soc Trang province, testing of seafood samples before exporting to the RoK will be implemented in Vietnam from April 1, 2018, which means Vietnamese firms will have to pay for the costly process.

For Vietnamese shrimp to be more competitive, enterprises will have to cut  the price of input purchasing for seafood processing, which will affect farmers and the whole sector, he added.