Vietnam becomes RoK's top surplus partner for first time
(VOVWORLD) -Vietnam has become the Republic of Korea’s largest trade surplus partner for the first time with a trade surplus of over 34 billion USD, according to the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The RoK's export and import turnover to the Vietnamese market last year reached 60.98 billion USD and 26.72 billion USD, respectively.
A Korean trade official pointed out that among ASEAN member states, Vietnam has emerged as an attractive production base for global companies. Firms from the RoK have consistently poured investment into the Vietnamese market, a factor which has led to both countries becoming each other's close economic partners and turning the Southeast Asian nation into a top surplus partner of the RoK.
Last year saw the RoK's export turnover hit a record high of 684 billion USD, the sixth largest in the world. However, the RoK’s imports also skyrocketed amid high energy prices caused by the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, thereby making the country rack up a trade deficit of up to 47 billion USD.