"The South Korean market is as desirable as the European Union market,particularly in aquatic products, with its average per capita income of US$12,000 ayear," the trade official declared.

Traditionally, South Korea has looked to Chineseenterprises to satisfy export needs. In recent years, however, South Korea has begunimporting many Vietnamese items with a view to diversifying its commodities resources tominimise risks of monopoly.

Seafood was one of the first Vietnamese products thatSouth Korean businesses opted to import.

Last year, Viet Nam exported $101.47 million worth ofaquatic products to South Korea, contributing to an increase of 41 per cent over theprevious year's figure.

Vietnamese agricultural products have also started topenetrate into the new market, and quickly took hold of a considerable market share there.For example, Vietnamese cassava slices now represent 58.41 per cent of the South Koreanmarket, while coffee makes up 19.5 per cent.

Some kinds of Vietnamese vegetables and fruits, likemangoes and pineapples, are also competing well in the South Korean market due to theirhigh quality and lower prices.

Consequently, over the past three years, Viet Nam'sexports to the South Korean market have registered continuous growth rates, rangingbetween 19.6 per cent and 43.7 per cent. The main exports are seafood, coal, crude oil,garments and agro-products.

Viet Nam annually exports an average of $200 to 300million worth of products to South Korea.

However, Hang stressed that this is only a modest share ofa potentially lucrative market in a country whose economy is developing very fast.

Hung attributed domestic exporters' slow advancement intothe South Korean market to South Korean businesses' lack of specific information onVietnamese enterprises and their products.

Many South Korean enterprises have complained that theyhive difficulty finding Vietnamese partners, because they lack information on Vietnamesebusinesses and their products and services. Worse still, documents are often written inVietnamese only.

According to Hung, domestic enterprises want commercialcounsellors to help 'them introduce their products to foreign partners and customers, butoften provide poor information about themselves in turn.

"South Korean companies typically favour Vietnameseenterprises who have detailed catalogues of their products and services. Regrettably,there have been to date only a few having such books sent to Vietnamese commercial officesabroad."