This is seen as ahuge advantage for the Vietnamese shrimp sector since rivals fromThailand, Indonesia, and India still have to pay import tariff at20 percent when shipping the products to the RoK.
General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Producers andExporters (VASEP) Truong Dinh Hoe said the RoK agreed to give an annualimport quota of 10,000 tonnes of Vietnamese shrimp at zero percent taxrate, which will be applied after the bilateral trade pact comes intoeffect in 2016.
He added that the quota can be raised to 15,000 tonnes in three or four years.
As a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),Vietnam also benefits from the ASEAN-RoK free trade agreement whichhas enabled the bloc to export 5,000 tonnes of untaxed shrimp to theRoK.
According to the VASEP, the RoK is now thefifth largest shrimp importer of Vietnam after the US, Japan, theEuropean Union and China.
Last year, Vietnameseshrimp made up 44 percent of the market share in the RoK, an annual riseof 41.3 percent, with a total value of 317.8 million USD, surpassingChina to be the second largest shrimp supplier to the RoK.
Nevertheless, in the first quarter of 2015, shrimp exports to RoKdropped by 19.5 percent over the same period last year, to 51.33 millionUSD.
Though the trade deal presents hugeopportunities, businesses remain worried about a number of issues suchas the role of Government, ministries and sectors in dealing withcommitment violations as well as investment capital and technicalbarriers.-VNA