Firms from the Republic of Korea (RoK) have unveiled plans to buy more agricultural produce from Vietnam , the Mekong Delta in particular.

At a seminar held in Can Tho on June 7, RoK businesses said they need to import large quantities of farm and fisheries produce because domestic supply cannot meet demand.

"The Mekong Delta is in an ideal producer of these items," they said.

The RoK has imported Vietnamese coffee and seafood in the past, and has been considering and buying rice and yet more farm produce from Vietnam .

"The country wants to import around 50,000 tonnes of rice annually and is considering Vietnam as a source because Koreans like glutinous, fragrant, unbroken grain," they said.

However, sometimes the rice quality is inconsistent, they said, describing it as the biggest weakness of Vietnamese exporters.

The seminar on investment and business cooperation between the two countries was organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Can Tho chapter and the RoK consulate in HCM City .

Nguyen Huu De, deputy director of the VCCI Can Tho, said eight of 13 provinces and city in the Mekong Delta have established commercial links with RoK partners.

Delta-based companies have exported seafood and farm produce like straw mushrooms, pineapples, and pineapple products.

But as of last year only four delta provinces – Long An, Vinh Long, Ben Tre, and Tien Giang – and Can Tho had attracted RoK investments, and that was worth just more than 1 billion USD.

The VCCI pointed out that all these provinces and city were situated not far from HCM City .

Jang Jil, a commercial affairs official at the consulate, said to attract more RoK investors to other Mekong provinces like those to the west of the Hau River , transport infrastructure, including for waterway transport, has to be better developed.-VNA