What does Gia Lai agricultural products do to enter the Japanese market?

For many businesses, the Japanese market is known as one of the most demanding markets in the world. However, if successful in this market, the business's products will have many advantages when expanding to other markets. Currently, many businesses in Gia Lai have recognized this potential but have not yet found a suitable approach. In order for Gia Lai agricultural products to "open the door" to the Japanese market, a long-term strategy is needed, requiring a connection between businesses and farmers.

Nông sản Gia Lai làm gì để vào thị trường Nhật Bản?

With advantages in climate and soil conditions, Gia Lai province is attracting the attention of many foreign enterprises in general and Japan in particular in exporting agricultural products.

In 2024, the province's export turnover will reach 820 million USD (an increase of 20.59% compared to 2023). Key industries have made a strong breakthrough, in which the record high export price of coffee has pushed the turnover up. The coffee industry alone exported 210 thousand tons with a turnover of 640 million USD (an increase of 30.61% in value); rubber latex reached 830 tons/1.25 million USD; wood products reached 2.25 million USD, an increase of more than 2 times in value; other items reached 176.6 million USD. Many products such as coffee, rubber, fruits, wood products... are present in nearly 60 countries around the world.

The province has about 256,000 hectares of crops produced according to standards such as VietGAP, GlobalGAP, Rainforest, Organic. In 2024, agricultural export products will account for about 90% of the total export turnover of the province, of which the two main products are coffee with an export turnover of 640 million USD and fruit with an export turnover of more than 150 million USD. Besides coffee, fruit exports such as bananas and processed passion fruit have opened up many large markets such as the EU, Japan, China, and Korea.

Gia Lai province has many advantages in terms of climate and soil conditions.

Despite many inherent advantages, it must be recognized that enterprises in Gia Lai province are still operating on a small scale, with only a few large enterprises. This leads to limited investment in processing and manufacturing machinery or the application of science, technology and engineering in production.

In addition, the province’s agricultural products are mostly raw and lack diversity in design, making it difficult to develop export markets. Many businesses mainly purchase raw agricultural products and then transfer them to other localities to sell to export businesses, not having enough potential for direct export. Therefore, many types of agricultural products have large output but low export turnover.

Nông sản Gia Lai làm gì để vào thị trường Nhật Bản?

To learn more about the potential and challenges of Gia Lai agricultural products in the "race" to the Japanese market, reporters from the Industry and Trade Newspaper had a conversation with Ms. Kristina Hagiwara - Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of NK HOLDINGS Co.ltd - a company specializing in the production and import and export of agricultural products for the European, Japanese and other Asian markets such as Malaysia, Dubai, Singapore.

According to Ms. Kristina Hagiwara, Gia Lai has very good, standard raw material areas; Gia Lai's land, soil and climate conditions are very suitable for developing agricultural products such as macadamia, coffee, cocoa, cashew nuts, etc.

Last February, NK HOLDINGS Co.ltd cooperated with the ASEAN Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center in Japan and the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan to bring typical products of Gia Lai province to attend the Vietnam Agricultural Products Conference in Japan.

At the conference, customers were able to directly try Gia Lai agricultural products such as Vinh Hiep coffee, Phuong Di honey, Hai Binh cashew nuts, BaKa coffee... These products were highly appreciated by customers and qualified to be imported as high-quality finished products into Japan. Since then, Gia Lai agricultural products have been signed by Japanese businesses wishing to sign sales contracts for direct export to Japan.

However, according to Ms. Kristina Hagiwara, for Gia Lai agricultural products to be successfully exported to the Japanese market, many necessary and sufficient factors are required. Ms. Kristina Hagiwara said that Japan is a very demanding market and is especially strict in tracing the origin of products. Instead of the previous situation where products would be checked according to the growing area code, currently, Japanese enterprises also require specific tracing of the farm name and farm owner. Agricultural cultivation methods must ensure that no chemicals are used that are prohibited under Japanese law.

Next, the products must have packaging and quality that comply with Japanese regulations. The packaging process does not use harmful substances, and does not use 100% plastic packaging. An important factor that cannot be missed is that the processing process must ensure food hygiene and safety. Not to mention, for products labeled “organic”, the requirements for certifications such as HACCP, ISO, and FDA will be even more stringent.

“Enterprises in Gia Lai province are very aware of having full certifications and building factories according to high-tech processes. As for Japanese customers, they trust Gia Lai province's agricultural products. However, the production model in this locality is still small, so it is difficult to help customers collect products and manage production. In addition, Gia Lai businesses also need to pay attention to Japanese consumption trends for agricultural products and food. Specifically, when choosing to buy a food item, Japanese consumers are interested in factors affecting health and the convenience of the product... Along with that, the product packaging must first have information about nutritional ingredients, processing and preservation methods,..." - Ms. Kristina Hagiwara shared.

Many Gia Lai agricultural products are gradually reaching the Japanese market.

Nông sản Gia Lai làm gì để vào thị trường Nhật Bản?

Realizing the great potential of Gia Lai agricultural products, Ms. Kristina Hagiwara said: In June 2025, NK HOLDINGS Co.ltd will coordinate with the ASEAN Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center in Japan, the Japan Chain Association, the Japan National Retail Association... to invite businesses to visit growing areas and learn about Gia Lai agricultural products.

“We will invite businesses that are interested in Gia Lai agricultural products and have a need to invest in growing areas, processing models and importing agricultural products to work and sign contracts for consuming related products. The upcoming event will have a great impact and is an opportunity for Gia Lai businesses, as their products will be approached by Japanese businesses,” Ms. Kristina Hagiwara shared.

Regarding the issue of exporting agricultural products to the Japanese market, Mr. Pham Van Binh - Director of Gia Lai Department of Industry and Trade - commented that Japan is a market with high standards compared to many other markets.

Mr. Binh said: Japan's technical standards for agriculture are very strict. This has led to some businesses in Gia Lai province lacking the necessary standards required by Japan. However, thanks to those requirements, the awareness of businesses and people about farming methods and agricultural production has changed.

Japanese businesses do not buy products, process them and resell them, but they buy packaged products. The product labels clearly show the place of production, growing area, etc. They may not care about the price, but the quality of the product must be put first. These requirements pose challenges that people and businesses must change to suit and adapt to the Japanese market. In particular, focusing on farming methods, expanding scale, high-tech production processes, and more diverse product packaging specifications...

“In order for Gia Lai agricultural products to gain access to the Japanese market, a long-term strategy is needed. When Gia Lai enterprises and agricultural products can squeeze through this narrow door and penetrate the Japanese market, it will open up great opportunities to reach many other markets. Japan's high quality standards have become the driving force for Gia Lai agricultural products to constantly improve to meet the expectations of global consumers, while gradually building a strong brand for Gia Lai agricultural products on the world map,” Mr. Binh hopes.

On March 19, the Department of Industry and Trade of Gia Lai had a meeting with Japanese enterprises related to the field of trade promotion. The meeting focused on discussing and studying the Japan - Gia Lai trade promotion plan in 2025; discussing the plan to implement the Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia agricultural belt with Gia Lai province (Gia Lai is the main production center) implemented by NK HOLDINGS Co.ltd and the ASEAN Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center in Japan. At the same time, a survey of a number of enterprises in the province was conducted to promote the exchange of goods in the field of trade.