How dependent is South Korea on Vietnam?

A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.

• Vietnam sells 11.1% of what the world exports of phones and telecom equipment; next come China (56.2%), Taiwan (3.4%) and United States (2.6%). The rest of the world exported 24.5 times what South Korea buys from Vietnam.
• Vietnam sells 28% of what the world exports of firewood and wood chips; next come United States (18%), Australia (7%) and Canada (5%). The rest of the world exported 28.3 times what South Korea buys from Vietnam.
• Vietnam sells 10.4% of what the world exports of packing sacks and bags; next come China (24.8%), India (22.6%) and Turkey (6.3%). The rest of the world exported 21.1 times what South Korea buys from Vietnam.
• Vietnam sells 17.8% of what the world exports of cotton yarn; next come India (30%), Uzbekistan (10.7%) and United States (7.8%). The rest of the world exported 55.8 times what South Korea buys from Vietnam.
• Vietnam sells 23.9% of what the world exports of tire cord fabric; next come China (29.3%), Luxembourg (6.7%) and Turkey (5.2%). The rest of the world exported 26.6 times what South Korea buys from Vietnam.
• Vietnam sells 31.4% of what the world exports of blended cotton yarn; next come China (19%), India (12.8%) and Turkey (6%). The rest of the world exported 14 times what South Korea buys from Vietnam.
• Vietnam sells 5.3% of what the world exports of textile and paper finishing agents; next come Germany (11.4%), United States (8.9%) and China (7%). The rest of the world exported 62 times what South Korea buys from Vietnam.
• Vietnam sells 20.2% of what the world exports of pepper, dried chili and paprika; next come India (24.8%), China (14.6%) and Spain (5.7%). The rest of the world exported 111.9 times what South Korea buys from Vietnam.
• Vietnam sells 13.5% of what the world exports of women's knitted blouses; next come China (26.2%), Bangladesh (7.7%) and Turkey (6.2%). The rest of the world exported 124.1 times what South Korea buys from Vietnam.
• Vietnam sells 31.5% of what the world exports of coconuts, Brazil nuts and cashews; next come Côte d'Ivoire (12.6%), Tanzania (6.4%) and Indonesia (6.1%). The rest of the world exported 178.8 times what South Korea buys from Vietnam.

Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.

South Korea is Vietnam’s 3rd-largest customer, with 5.6% of its exports.

• Trade between South Korea and Vietnam
• Who does South Korea rely on?
• Who does Vietnam rely on?
• Dependence of South Korea on China
• Dependence of South Korea on the United States
• Dependence of South Korea on Australia
• Dependence of South Korea on Japan
• Dependence of South Korea on Brazil
• Dependence of South Korea on Switzerland
• Dependence of South Korea on Mexico
• Trade profile of South Korea
• Trade profile of Vietnam
• All countries

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• Natural Earth · Public domain

Methodology

The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.

Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.

The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.

Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.

The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.

Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.