Vietnam has usurped Japan for the first time to become the fourth largest importer of products from the Republic of Korea (RoK), in the first seven months of this year.
According to statistics from the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) published on August 30, the RoK’s exports to Vietnam reached 16.35 billion USD while the amount to Japan was worth 15.48 billion USD.
The RoK’s shipments of wireless communication device components to Vietnam shot up by 29.9 percent from the same period last year. A RoK official said that exports to Japan plunged by 19.3 percent, spurred by Japanese yen devaluation and low oil price.
In the same period, the RoK raked in 79.13 billion USD from selling products to China, 41.92 billion USD from the US and 16.87 billion USD from Hong Kong (China).
Last year, the RoK generated 22.35 billion USD from shipments to Vietnam, lower than the amount gained from Japan which stood at 32.18 billion USD. Meanwhile, the country earned 145.29 billion USD from China and 70.28 billion USD from the US.-VNA
http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-becomes-fourth-largest-importer-of-rok-products/80948.vnp (150831)