The Hanoitimes - There is a high demand for consumer goods in Japan and Japanese consumers look for everyday goods at cheap prices, which is considered advantageous for Vietnamese products aiming to penetrate the market.
This was confirmed byVo Thanh Ha, Deputy Head of the Asia-Pacific Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), at a seminar in Hanoi .
Ha also proposed that Vietnamese businesses should seriously strive to meet the technical standards required to penetrate the Japanese market.
Deputy head of the Trade Promotion Agency Le Hoang Anh said Japan is one of Vietnam ’s leading trade partners and the relationship between the two countries is progressing well.
The two sides signed the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) in 2008, creating a favourable legal framework for developing their economic relationship, he noted.
Two-way trade continues to grow and flourish despite Japan ’s extraordinary efforts last year to overcome the consequences of March earthquake and tsunamis.
Bilateral trade reached US$21.1 billion, up 26 percent against 2010, of which Vietnam ’s exports gained US$10.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 39 percent.
In the first three months of this year, Vietnamese exports to Japan earned US$3.1 billion while its imports grossed US$2.5 billion from the country of the Rising Sun.
Japan leads the list of 26 countries and territories currently investing in Vietnam with US$2.3 billion in newly registered and added investment capital, accounting for 88.8 percent of the total investment capital flowing into Vietnam .
Many Vietnamese goods have gained a firm foothold in the Japanese market, including seafood, garments, wood, coffee, plastics, leather, footwear, electrical appliances, electronics and spare parts.
The seminar, organized by Trade Promotion Agency under the MoIT, aims to provide Vietnamese enterprises with information about the Japanese market and contribute to assisting entrepreneurs to expand operations in Japan .