Vietnam highly potential market for Korean firms

Seoul (VNA) – Vietnam is now considered a highly potential market for businesses from the Republic of Korea (RoK) which have dominated some sectors in the Southeast Asian nation.

The RoK’s largest trade surplus in 2022 was with Vietnam, at 34.25 billion USD. It was the first year in which Vietnam ranked No. 1 in this regard, according to the RoK’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy cited by the Joongang Ilbo newspaper.

The main exports to Vietnam include semiconductors, flat screen monitors, and petroleum products. Besides, food, fashion items, and beauty products also greatly contributed to the RoK’s shipments to the Southeast Asian country, according to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and relevant industries.

Fast food chain Lotteria is running 270 stores in Vietnam, ranking first among similar chains here. Its 2022 revenue topped 100 billion KRW (80.5 million USD), surpassing the figure in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

With 38 stores, Tous les Jours of CJ Foodville is also holding the top position among the bakery chains in Vietnam.

In 2021, soju products of Hite Jinro also dominated the local distilled alcoholic beverage market. The third Jinro BBQ restaurant opened in Hanoi’s Cau Giay district in February 2022.

Lat year, Orion Vina, a subsidiary of Orion in Vietnam, earned over 400 billion KRW in annual revenue for the first time since its establishment. Compared to Vietnam’s confectionary market worth 130 billion KRW, that figure indicates Orion is currently dominating the market.

Korean cosmetic products are also popular in Vietnam. Local media reported that such products from the RoK hold the biggest market share, 30%, compared to similar items from the EU (23%) and Japan (17%), which also have many high-end brands.

Data from KITA show that thanks to Hallyu (Korean Wave), the RoK’s cosmetics exports to Vietnam reached 230 million USD in 2020.

Likewise, Korean fashion is also a magnet in the Vietnamese market.

Hazzys, a brand of fashion company LF, is operating seven stores in Vietnam and recorded its 2022 revenue doubling that in 2021. Fashion and retail firm E-Land also witnessed last year’s sales here rising over 10%.

In May and June 2022, the KITA branch in Ho Chi Minh City interviewed 956 Vietnamese adults about Korean products they planned to buy. The items grabbing their attention included cosmetics (37.9%), food (27.7%), and electronics (15.1%). Asked about potential Koream products in the future, they selected cosmetics (50.7%), electronics (38.9%), food (32.2%), and healthy food (23.3%).

KITA said with a population of 100 million and good economic growth, Vietnam is not only a production hub replacing China but also one of the fastest recovering consumption markets after the COVID-19 pandemic./.