For the past 3 consecutive months, Vietnam's tuna exports to South Korea have grown at a three-digit rate. Notably, tuna exports to this market reached a peak in June. The export value to this market reached nearly 6 million USD, nearly 6 times higher than the same period in 2023.

With this result, the cumulative export of tuna to Korea in the first 6 months of 2024 reached more than 14 million USD, an increase of 144% over the same period. Korea became one of the 10 single markets importing the most tuna from Vietnam.

According to statistics from Vietnam Customs, in the first 6 months of this year, there were 15 enterprises participating in exporting tuna to this market. Leading among them are Nha Trang Bay, Yueh Chyang Canned Food and Trinity Vietnam, accounting for 86% of the total export turnover in the first half of 2024

With a population of more than 51 million people, Korea is currently a potential market for Vietnamese tuna exporters with a high growth trend since last year.

The Vietnam - Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA), which took effect in December 2015, has created a foundation to promote economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries to develop more strongly and effectively. The two countries are participating in the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and Korea is considering joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), of which Vietnam is a member.

Currently, Korea mainly imports processed and canned tuna from Vietnam, accounting for 99% of total export turnover. Of which, Korea mainly imports frozen steamed skipjack tuna loin.

The trend of seafood consumption in Korea has changed with the trend of reducing consumer spending, which is an opportunity for Vietnamese seafood to boost the export of seafood products at suitable prices.

Like Japan, exports to South Korea have the advantage of geographical proximity, stable consumption demand and are the destination of many businesses in the coming time in the context of inflation causing a sharp decrease in consumption in Western markets.

While the Red Sea tensions have caused shipping rates to the US and Europe to skyrocket, closer markets such as South Korea are also attracting the attention of many businesses.

In particular, while South Korea has reduced tuna imports from other countries, it has increased imports from Vietnam.

However, according to businesses, the domestic supply of raw skipjack tuna has decreased due to the current regulations on the minimum size of skipjack tuna allowed for exploitation in Decree 37, which are "tying up" businesses. Therefore, Vietnam's tuna exports to South Korea in the second half of 2024 will hardly maintain the current growth rate.

Source: VASEP