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Beijing, Seoul start new chapter in trade

Update Date：2015-12-24 10:03:58 Source：BeiJing Tannet Views：908

Nevertheless, processed foods that use these products as raw materials can still have tariff reductions and exemptions.

Kim Wook, a trade relations professor at Konkuk University in South Korea, told CCTV: "In the long term, the agricultural products in both countries will enjoy indirect benefits. China and South Korea will foresee significant room for growth in the agriculture sector."

Korean enterprises, he said, may import cheap agricultural products from China, and develop and process high-end products, and then sell them back to China.

"Both sides can benefit from such transactions," Kim said. "There will be more products for customers to choose from, and the competition between Chinese and Korean enterprises will intensify."

In recent years, growing demand for South Korean products in China has encouraged some Chinese people to become overseas shopping agents.

Iris Wong, a Hangzhou-based tour guide who often shuttles between China and South Korea, said the FTA would not affect her business.

In March 2015, fashion giant Chanel SA cut the prices of its three signature handbags in Asia while raising them in Europe. "Chanel lowered the prices in both China and South Korea. South Korea still has a slight price advantage over China. Some people asked me to buy the bags for them, so I can still make money," Wong said.

She said she also posts pictures of many South Korea-made clothes on WeChat, a social media platform operated by Tencent Holdings Ltd. "Most of them are fairly cheap, and customers buy them primarily for their styles. My job is to pick out those well-received styles. I don't think the free trade agreement will reduce my business."

Among fast-moving consumer goods, shampoo, body wash and skincare products will get 20 to 35 percent of their tariffs reduced in five years. Oral hygiene products, sea sedge, and 90 percent of seafood like codfish and frozen crab will be tariff-free in 10 years.

The article transsshipment from China Daily

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