Vietnam and Japan to hold business matching trade webinar
The 2022 Vietnam – Japan business matching trade webinar on food products commences on June 23. It will run for two days till June 24th. The business matching webinar is aimed to help Vietnamese firms promote their products and seek opportunities for exports in Japan.
The event will be co-hosted by three organisations. Firstly, the Department of Trade Promotion (Vietrade) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT). Secondly, the Trade Office of Vietnam in Japan. And finally (but not least important) the ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC).
During the event’s plenary session, speakers will give an overview of potential business and investment opportunities in the food industry between the two countries. They will also provide updates on the Japanese market for processed food.
There will also be business-matching sessions for trade enterprises from the two sides.
Increase in trade between Vietnam and Japan
Data from the MoIT shows that Vietnam’s exports trade to Japan totalled 9.34 billion USD in the first five months of 2022. This is a year-on-year increase of 12.8 percent.
The number of Vietnamese people living in Japan has been on a rise, reaching around half a million in 2021. As a result, imported food products from Vietnam has gained increasing popularity in Japan.
Last year, Vietnam shipped some 1.8 billion USD worth of agricultural and aquatic products to Japan, with significant growth seen in coffee (25.5 percent), vegetables (20 percent), cashew nuts (39 percent) and pepper (56 percent).
Vietnamese agricultural and aquatic products are available at a number of major retail chains in Japan, such as AEON, Donkihote and Itoyokado.
Vietnam and Japan’s trade relations date back centuries ago. Japanese traders came with silver and copper to trade for Vietnamese products such as silk and rice. Unfortunately, relations between the two nations tapered off when colonialism came to Vietnam. It would be only until the Vietnam joined the WTO (World Trade Organisation) that relations would resume. Since then trade relations have grown continuously except for a brief slowdown during the Covid pandemic period.
Only recently, Japan has supplied Vietnam with trains for its mass rapid transit system.
