For the last decade, Vietnamese people have been talking about the penetration
of Korean culture to Vietnam. Now they are talking about the “invasion” of
Korean cooking in Vietnam’s
market.

Korean food flooding

Food
imported from South Korea
has been flooding both big and small supermarkets in Vietnam. Though the prices of the
products are higher than Vietnamese products, and while retailers rarely offer
price discounts, South Korean food still has been selling very well.

The
good sale of South Korean food has led to the mushrooming of more and more food
shops specializing in selling South Korean food products, especially on Tran
Duy Hung, Nguyen Thi Dinh streets and Trung Hoa new urban area in Hanoi.

Nearly
all big supermarkets have been selling South Korean food. The most popular
products include salmon, kimchi, seaweed, mushrooms and different kinds of
noodles. The prices of the import products are 3-4 times higher than the same
kinds of products made domestically.

Kimchi,
for example, is selling at 150,000-200,000 dong per kilo (made-in-Vietnam
kimchi is priced at 60,000-110,000 dong per kilo), and imported mushroom is
selling at 39,000 dong per 200 gram pack (18,000 dong for domestic product).
Powdered red pepper is priced at 180,000 dong per kilo (50,000-70,000 dong) and
beef at 500-600,000 dong (130-140,000 dong).

Despite
the “price storm” which has forced many housewives to be frugal, other people
are still ready to spend money on expensive food. “I like kimchi and Korean
food. I always purchase materials to make kimchi myself. It takes me about
200,000 dong make a kilogram of kimchi,” said Thu Huong in Thanh Xuan district
in Hanoi.

Dung,
a saleswoman of a mini supermarket, specializing in selling Korean food on Nguyen Thi Dinh street,
said that the supermarket has been mainly selling food to Koreans, who are
living in Vietnam.
However, she said she has been serving more and more Vietnamese people
recently.

“Vietnamese
people purchase materials to make kimchi, seaweed, mushroom and ginseng,” Dung
said.

The high trade
deficit risk

Since
2010, Vietnam has been
applying a preferential tariff on imports from South Korea under the framework of
the ASEAN-South Korea Free Trade Agreement.

In
2010-2011, the tariffs on many products, such as lamb, beef and pork will be
reduced to 7-10 percent. Meanwhile, dairy products will have average tax rates
of 10-15 percent, and fish and fruit 15-20 percent.

The
lower tariffs have paved the way for more and more South Korean products to
enter Vietnam.
Statistics showed that the turnover from South Korean imports in the first six
months of the year increased by 37.16 percent in comparison with the same
period of last year.

Analysts
have pointed out that it is a Vietnamese habit of preferring foreign products
to domestic products which has contributed to the high trade deficit.

“Not
every kind of South Korean rice is glutinous, while Vietnam also has many kinds of rice
suitable to make kimbab. I would prefer Vietnamese rice,” said Dung from the
food mini shop on Nguyen Thi Dinh
street.

La Hoan