It quoted the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI)’s analysis of investment and trade changes between the two nations during the 1992-2021 period as saying that the RoK’s trade surplus with Vietnam grew steadily from 300 million USD in 1992 to an estimated 31.3 billion USD in 2022, making Vietnam almost certainly exceed the US to become the top surplus partner.
As of November, two-way trade between Vietnam and the RoK hit 81.1 billion USD.
The figure in 1992 reached 500 million USD and saw a 161-fold rise to 80.7 billion USD in 2021. During the period, the RoK’s exports and imports soared by 8.4 and 7.5 times respectively, but its exports and imports with Vietnam surged by 142 times and 240 times.
Since the establishment of their diplomatic ties, the third biggest currency earners have been semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and sensors, radio and telecommunications equipment. During 2019-2021, their exports grew by 32%, 23.3% and 37.2%, respectively.
Data from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam showed that as of 2021, the RoK was the biggest investor in Vietnam with 9,203 projects worth 78.5 billion USD. Its FDI in Vietnam spiked from 17 million USD in 1992 to 2.4 billion USD in 2021.
Samsung is the biggest foreign-invested firm in Vietnam. This year, it poured an additional 2 billion USD in the country and expects to raise its total investment to 20 billion USD.
FKI advised the RoK Government to enhance partnerships with Vietnam as the two governments recently upgraded the bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.
The two countries’ businesses also targeted lifting two-way trade to 150 billion USD by 2030, doubling the current figure.
