Consumers buy sushi at an Aeon Mall in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has becomean attractive market for Japanese retailers following the popularity ofJapanese goods in the domestic market.
According to Kazuhiro Takahashi, Head ofthe Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Division under the Japan ExternalTrade Organisation (JETRO), Vietnam is one of the potential food markets forJapanese enterprises, especially for aquatic products.
Katsuya Uchida, a representative of Japan’sKyokuyo Company, said that the Vietnamese market currently accounts for 30 percentof the total seafood export turnover of his company. Of which, salmon and tunaare the most consumed products and receive positive feedback from consumers.
In order to promote exports and dominatethe Vietnamese market, Japanese consumer goods and foodstuff enterprises alsotend to change some criteria of their products to suit the tastes of Vietnameseconsumers.
Besides, Japanese enterprises actively seekpartners who can supply raw materials in Vietnam in order to save costs andlower production costs.
Recently, more than 80 Japanese andVietnamese enterprises participated in a trade conference in the southernprovince of Dong Nai to promote development cooperation between the two sidesand call for investment and development cooperation.
Representatives of Japanese enterprises,who are manufacturing and doing business in Dong Nai province, said that mostof them have to import 60-90 percent of raw materials and components fromforeign countries in service of production.
Therefore, these companies want to find suitablepartners in the Vietnamese market to supply raw materials of high quality andat competitive prices in order to reduce imports and increase the rate ofdomestic production.
[Japan boosts promotion of food products in Vietnam]
As one of the largest Japanese supermarketsin Vietnam, AEON’s policy in the Vietnamese market is to set aside 80 percentof its shelves to display Vietnamese goods. The remaining 20 percent is forgoods imported from Japan and other countries.
According to a representative of AEONVietnam, the massive appearance of Japanese retailers in Vietnam is a greatopportunity for the country’s prestigious products to emerge in thedistribution network of large retailers.
Japan’s distribution and retail systems notonly help Vietnamese businesses expand their domestic market but also to createconditions for Vietnamese products to reach the Japanese market and affirmtheir trademark in other countries, the representative said.
However, in order to be able to participatein the distribution and retail systems of Japan, the goods must be accompaniedwith documents proving their origin and quality accreditation, in accordancewith legal regulations, as well as meeting the quality standards of eachsupermarket.
At present, the Ministry of Industry andTrade has access to a number of distribution systems in Vietnam such as AEON,Walmart, Lotte and Auchan, as well as some foreign distribution systems notavailable in Vietnam such as Co.op Italia, Bonat Italia, Central Group, FrenchOcean and German Metro to promote the direct distribution of Vietnameseproducts to the world market.
Besides, according to experts, Vietnameseconsumers’ preference for Japanese products is also opening up opportunitiesfor Vietnamese producers to improve their products to increase competitiveness.
They said that Vietnamese producers need tohave strategies to produce safe products that meet quality standards and theneeds of consumers in the market.
In addition, there is a need for linkagesbetween associations to create bulk supply chains, which will enable smallbusinesses to access the market.
As consumers strictly demand quality products,Vietnamese producers should enhance the competitiveness through the improvementof quality for sustainable development, the experts said.-VNA
VNA
