SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Yonhap) -- Vietnam overtook Japan as the fourth-largest overseas market for South Korean exports in the first seven months of this year thanks to a surge in shipments of intermediate goods to the Southeast Asian country, data showed Sunday.
South Korean exports to Vietnam stood at US$16.35 billion in the January-July period, outstripping $15.48 billion in Seoul's shipments to Japan during the period, according to the data by the Korea International Trade Association and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).
It is the first time ever that South Korea's exports to Vietnam have surpassed those to the neighboring country.
China was South Korea's largest export market with $79.13 billion during the seven-month period, followed by the United States with $41.92 billion and Hong Kong with $16.87 billion.
The surge in South Korean exports to Vietnam was attributed to increased shipments of intermediate goods, with exports to Japan tumbling due largely to a weak Japanese currency.
South Korean exports of intermediate goods to Vietnam, including components of wireless communication equipment, jumped 29.9 percent in the seven-month period from a year earlier, said Ko Sang-hoon, a KOTRA official.
"During the same period, shipments to Japan plunged 19.3 percent on-year as the weakness of the Japanese yen and falling international crude prices made exports to the neighboring country less profitable," he said.
For all of 2014, South Korea's exports to Vietnam totaled $22.35 billion, lower than its shipments to Japan worth $32.18 billion.
China was the No. 1 destination for South Korean exports by importing $145.29 billion worth of goods last year, trailed by the U.S. with $70.28 billion, according to the data.
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