Farm produce exports to Japanese market
(VOV) - Due to different crop and weather patterns, Vietnam has plenty of opportunity to export agricultural and seafood products to the Japanese market. But there remain snags in meeting Japan’s strict food safety and hygiene requirements.
According to the Vietnamese Embassy in Tokyo, Vietnam-Japan economic relations showed impressive growth in 2012. Trade exchange between the two countries rose fast to US$25 billion from US$21 billion in 2011, with exports to Japan reaching US$13 billion (up 21 percent), Vietnam had a continuous run for trade surpluses with Japan to US$1 billion last year.
Vietnam’s exports to Japan are likely to increase by 20 percent to more than US$15 billion in 2013.
In recent years, a host of successfully negotiated important economic agreements has created favorable conditions for Vietnam to increase its agricultural exports to Japan. A sharp reduction in tax rates for all farm produce has opened opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to gain ground.
Under the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA), Japan is committed to reducing its levies by nearly 84 percent of Vietnam’s agricultural export value. When the VJEPA went into effect, Japan immediately rescinded 784 out of 2,020 agricultural tax lines—36 percent of the total agricultural tax previously levied and 67.6 percent of Vietnam’s export value.
The VJEPA roadmap until 2020 specifies that more than 800 kinds of Vietnamese agricultural and seafood products exported to Japan will be granted tax exemptions. Fourteen products like glutamate, soya beans, ginger, rambutan, and banana are eligible to enjoy tax reductions within 3-5 years.
Japan will continue reducing and removing import tariffs levied on 72 agricultural tax lines for seven years while a roadmap to reduce and abolish tariffs will be applied to 210 tax lines for ten years.
Vietnamese export businesses are taking advantage of opportunities to export processed vegetables and fruits, corn, and spices to Japan. Sixty-four out of 330 seafood items are subject to tax reductions, accounting for 71 percent of Vietnam’s seafood exports to Japan. As of January 2013, Japanese import tariffs have been lowered to zero percent.
At a recent seminar on food safety and agro-forestry and seafood exports, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Dang Khoa said that since the signing of VJEPA in 2008, up to 86 percent of Vietnamese goods exported to Japan have enjoyed preferential tariffs. The VJEPA is considered a real boon for Vietnamese seafood exporting and processing enterprises which are set to improve the quality of products in line with strict food safety and hygiene requirements.
Khoa said Vietnam’s agro-forestry and seafood products are exported to more than 160 nations. Vietnam is one of the world’s leading exporters of rice, coffee, cashew nuts, and shrimp, which earned US$27.5 billion last year including US$2 billion from the Japanese market alone although the figure was still fall short of both countries’ expectations.
Sharing this view, Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Doan Xuan Hung remarked that many of Vietnam’s high-quality agricultural and seafood products are not available in the Japanese market. Hung said Japan is Vietnam’s biggest ODA provider, leading investor and important trade partner. However, in fact, Vietnam’s exports to Japan are worth just 1.7 percent of Japan’s total import volume. The two governments are encouraging businesses from both countries to increase trade exchange and cooperation in the food safety and hygiene area.
The ASEAN-Japan Centre’s Secretary-General Yoshikuni Onishi said that with an average income of US$1,500 per capita, Vietnam has become an attractive destination for Japanese enterprises. To mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Japan and Vietnam, the Centre has introduced a series of initiatives aimed at promoting bilateral economic, trade, investment, and tourism cooperation.