As rival parties are making last minute progress for the ratification of the South Korea-China free trade agreement, it is now possible that the pact can go into effect within this year.

The agreement will offer South Korean enterprises greater market access to China, which has a population of one-point-four billion.

If the FTA goes into effect this year, tariffs will be lowered twice in a matter of days.
 
This is because year-one tariffs will go down on the day the FTA goes into effect, while year-two tariffs will be lowered on January 1.

The tariff elimination will allow South Korean companies to gain the upper hand in their competition with American and Japanese firms.
 
However, the FTA will bring mixed results for different industries.
 
South Korean makers of apparel, cosmetics, household appliances and gourmet foods, which are highly popular in China, are expected to enjoy the benefits of the FTA.
 
Around 310 items made in the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex will be recognized as "made in South Korea" and will also receive preferential tariffs.
 
However, farmers and fishermen are likely to suffer as around 70 percent of South Korea's agricultural and fisheries sector, excluding such major categories as rice and beef, will open.
 
In addition, Chinese-made inexpensive and labor-intensive products, such as towels and socks, are expected to replace South Korean goods.
 
Lee Jun-hyup, a research fellow at Hyundai Research Institute, said higher value-added businesses will benefit considerably from the FTA. As a result, he recommended that South Korea use the agreement as an opportunity to make its industrial structure more focused on higher value-added businesses.
 
The government expects that when the FTA goes into effect, South Korea's real gross domestic product will grow zero-point-96 percent and it will create about 53-thousand new jobs in the next ten years.