Nguyen Phuc Khoa, Vice Chairman of the Food and Foodstuff Association of HCM City, speaks at the event. (Photo: VNA)Quyen Thi Thuy Ha, head of the Osaka branch of Vietnam’s TradeOffice in Japan, said the Northeast Asian nation is seeking alternatives tomany products it has long imported from China, and it is targeting SoutheastAsian countries, including Vietnam.
This market has demand for relatively diverse products suchas processed food, agricultural products, and fruits. It is also seeking newsupply sources of handicrafts, food containers, and products for sale atgrocery stores.
Many agricultural and processed food products of Vietnam havebeen exported to Japan, but they serve mainly the Vietnamese community thereand have yet to reach big distribution channels like supermarkets to accessJapanese consumers. Besides, consumer goods from Vietnam are also facing pricecompetition in this market, Ha pointed out.
She said if exporters target only Vietnamese buyers in Japan,it will be hard for them to improve export value. Besides, Japan also has verystrict quality standards for imports.
Tohelp enterprises increase exports, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam’sTrade Office in Japan, and the office’s branches there will step up tradepromotion and further introduce Vietnamese products to the distributionchannels for Japanese people, she added.
NguyenPhuc Khoa, Vice Chairman of the Food and Foodstuff Association of HCM City,said food trading between Vietnam, including HCM City, and Japan remains modestsince Japan has stringent quality requirements and technical standards thatvery few Vietnamese businesses can satisfy, and its importers prioritiseproducts imported or distributed under Japanese brands.
He noted Vietnam’s strength is still fruits, vegetable, andaquatic products. To bolster the export of other commodities, businesses shouldimprove their capabilities of meeting the market’s standards, build strongbrands, and proactively seek suitable clients.
A dried fruit and vegetable producer held that if enterprisesmanage to meet export standards to Japan, they can easily access otherdemanding markets and more exportopportunities will come.
Japan is currently the fourth largest trading partner ofVietnam. Bilateral trade stood at 42.7 billion USD in 2021, up 7.8% year onyear. The figure rose 15% to 35.69 billion USD in the first nine months of2022, including 17.84 billion USD of Vietnam’s exports - up 21.6% from a yearearlier./.
VNA
