Open the Korean market for agricultural products

Along with seafood, products from industrial crops also have many prospects for export to Korea in 2024. According to the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), in 2023, Korea will increase coffee imports from Vietnam. In the South, the increase is 17.9% in volume and 16.3% in value compared to 2022, reaching 41.45 thousand tons, worth 93.35 million USD. Vietnam’s coffee market share in Korea’s total imports increases from 17.15% in 2022 to 21.52% in 2023. It is expected that the revenue of the Korean coffee market will reach 2.2 billion USD in 2024.

This is an opportunity for coffee producing countries around the world to boost exports to Korea, including Vietnam. Meanwhile, in the first two months of 2024, Korea is Vietnam’s third largest rubber export market, reaching 8.2 thousand tons, worth 12.77 million USD, an increase of 61.7% in volume and 60.3% in value compared to the same period in 2023.

Particularly for fruits and vegetables, in 2023, Korea will also become Vietnam’s third largest export market with a turnover of 226 million USD, an increase of 25% compared to 2022. Information from the Institute of Policy and War. According to the report “Agricultural Outlook 2024” published by the Korea Institute of Rural Economics in mid-February 2024, Korea’s frozen fruit imports in 2023 will be 64,000. tons, an increase of 6% compared to 2022 (60,000 tons). In 2024, frozen fruit imports are expected to increase further as South Korea applies a quota tax to reduce or exempt taxes on imported fruit to stabilize domestic fruit prices. Vietnamese businesses are also looking for opportunities to promote fruit and vegetable exports to this market, especially fruit.

In February 2024, the People’s Committee of Cho Moi district, An Giang province held a ceremony to announce the export of 13 tons of flat-seeded mangoes to Korea, opening up new market opportunities for this product. According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Korea, mango is a popular tropical fruit product and has high demand in the Korean market. Therefore, the room for mango export is still very large for Vietnamese businesses.

However, along with the general trend, agricultural, forestry and fishery products exported to Korea must meet increasingly strict requirements on quality, food hygiene and safety and animal quarantine measures. , plants, especially for Vietnam’s main export products such as seafood, fruit, and coffee.

This is also the big reason why Vietnam’s agricultural, forestry and fishery market share only accounts for 4% of Korea’s total agricultural, forestry and fishery import value in 2023. To promote agricultural trade activities between the two countries, in mid-March 2024, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) organized a workshop “Vision of Vietnam-Korea cooperation in the field of agriculture by 2030”.