Vietnam Looks to Increase Exports to Japan
Vietnam is striving to complete final negotiation rounds toward signing a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with Japan with the hope to expand export markets in Asia, said Nguyen Bao, chief of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Asia-Pacific Department.
Bao said that Japan could reduce 90 per cent of export tax for Vietnam's all commodities as the BTA is signed.
In 2006, Japan continued to be Vietnam's second biggest export market with the export value of US$5.2 billion, up 18.6 per cent on year.
However, the figure is considered to be very modest, accounting for only approximately 1 per cent of Japan's total import cost, according to Koichi Takano, Deputy Representative Chief of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Hanoi.
"Japanese firms intend to transfer their orders from China to Vietnam and more and more our businesses are planning to more invest into the growing market," Koichi said.
He, however, recommended that Vietnamese producers would not increase exports to Japan if they don’t pay more attention to the foreign market's taste and strict requirements.
The Japanese consumers are favored to products of processing foods including fresh vegetables and fruits and seafood, mechanics and plastic products, software exports, but eye strictly to the products' quality and foodstuff safety and hygiene.
Currently, Japan is the leading market for the country's seafood exports, however, almost 100 per cent of batches of seafood products made in Vietnam in fact were checked, Bao said. (Investment)
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