Vietnam and Japan seek ways to promote agricultural trade

The export value of Vietnamese agricultural products to the Japanese market accounts for less than 2% of the total export value of Vietnamese goods to Japan.

The figure was given at the Workshop “Connecting supply chains to meet market demand” organized by the Department of International Cooperation and the National Agricultural Extension Center (NAEC) in collaboration with the Japan Agricultural Investment Promotion Project (ABJD), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on the morning of November 22 in Hanoi.

The potential for cooperation is huge.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan - Director of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) - said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1973, Vietnam - Japan trade relations have increasingly developed in many fields towards expanding cooperation in both breadth and depth, in which Vietnamese agriculture has also received much attention from Japan.

Promoting and connecting Vietnamese agricultural products to the Japanese market

Vietnam and Japan both have their own potential and advantages to promote cooperation in agricultural development. Japan is a developed industrial country, has modern agriculture and has many advantages in applying high technology to agricultural production. However, Japanese agriculture only meets over 45% of domestic consumption demand and still has to import agricultural products every year. This is considered an advantage for Vietnam to expand agricultural exports to Japan.

Since 2014, Vietnam-Japan agricultural cooperation has undergone strategic and long-term visionary changes, demonstrated through high-level dialogues. In addition to the achievements, agricultural cooperation between the two countries also faces some limitations. Accordingly, the rate of Japanese investment in Vietnam’s agriculture is still low compared to other sectors.

The export value of Vietnamese agricultural products to the Japanese market accounts for less than 2% of the total export value of Vietnamese goods to Japan. While Vietnam participates in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA); the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), etc. However, the export turnover of Vietnamese agricultural products to the Japanese market in the total export turnover of goods to this market is not commensurate with its potential. This raises many questions regarding the connection between Japanese enterprises and Vietnamese enterprises as well as the priorities of Japanese enterprises in purchasing Vietnamese goods.

“Therefore, organizing the Workshop will be a bridge for Vietnamese businesses, farmers and management agencies to connect with Japanese partners in participating in bringing Vietnamese agricultural products into the Japanese supermarket chain system in general and the AEON supermarket system in particular,” said Mr. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan.

“Agriculture is a very potential field for Vietnam and Japan to cooperate together. We hope that with Japanese technology, we can support Vietnam to improve productivity and increase the competitive value of Vietnamese agricultural products. Vietnam will become an agricultural powerhouse. In that development process, the relationship between Vietnam and Japan plays an important role,” said Mr. Ito Naoki - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Vietnam.

According to Mr. Ito Naoki, the size of the Japanese market is 10 times that of Vietnam, the agricultural population in Japan is decreasing, so the production and export of Vietnamese agricultural products to the Japanese market has great potential. Therefore, Mr. Ito Naoki also hopes that through the workshop, Vietnamese and Japanese enterprises will exchange and cooperate on technology, promote sales and look towards the future. And with the Memorandum of Understanding on capacity building and market connection for farmers between the National Agricultural Extension Center and AEON TOPVALU Vietnam Company, it will help bring Vietnamese agricultural products to the world market under the TOPVALU brand.

Memorandum of Understanding on capacity building and market connection for farmers between the National Agricultural Extension Center and AEON TOPVALU Vietnam Company

To promote agricultural cooperation between Vietnam and Japan as well as to successfully implement the Memorandum of Understanding on capacity building and market connection for farmers between the National Agricultural Extension Center and AEON TOPVALU Vietnam Company, Mr. Le Quoc Thanh - Director of the National Agricultural Extension Center - said that building a sustainable agricultural ecosystem, where manufacturers, businesses and consumers can cooperate closely to create quality products, meeting the increasing demands of domestic and foreign markets is necessary.

Vietnamese agricultural products need to put value first

Mr. Le Minh Hoan - Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development - said that Japan is currently one of the important export markets for agricultural, forestry and fishery products of Vietnam. The trade relationship between Vietnam and Japan shows that the commodity structure of the two countries is largely complementary and non-competitive. Besides, Japan is a large economy, but the structure of Vietnam's export products to this market is still limited, so there is still a lot of room for development in the coming time.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan speaks at the Workshop

In addition, Japan's specific technical standards for agriculture are very strict, the fluctuations of the world economy, domestic protectionism are having a great impact on global agricultural trade; or military conflicts, trade embargoes, the risk of disease outbreaks... increasing the risk of disruption of the global supply chain are challenges for agricultural cooperation between the two countries. This requires the two countries to make more efforts in negotiating, building appropriate cooperation and exchange mechanisms, adjusting production processes and technology to overcome these difficulties and challenges.

“Japanese people do agriculture not with fertilizers or pesticides but with their hearts. Believe me, if we think about consumers, consumers are willing to pay high prices. When Vietnamese agricultural products put value first, put consumers first, and with technical support from Japan, Vietnamese agricultural products will reach the Japanese market more and go further,” said Mr. Le Minh Hoan.

This afternoon, the Vietnam – Japan High-Tech Agriculture Forum will take place. The event aims to introduce new products, technologies and the role of agricultural extension activities in Japanese agricultural business cooperation. This is also an opportunity for managers, businesses, scientists and cooperatives to discuss solutions for supplying Vietnamese agricultural products to the AEON Mall supermarket chain.

At the same time, it is an opportunity for cooperatives and agricultural businesses to learn about market needs, strengthen cooperation between stakeholders in the supply chain, especially the needs of Japan, contributing to promoting agricultural trade between the two countries.

At the Forum, many issues will be raised and answered by experts at the event such as: The role of value chains in agricultural development in Vietnam; Main issues or barriers to value chain development in Vietnam; Strategy and policies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to build close relationships between stakeholders in the value chain; Cooperation between the Japanese Government and the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the agricultural sector; Some key target products of the agricultural sector when penetrating the international market; Main important criteria in selecting agricultural products of AEON supermarket; Secrets or differences in the quality of TOPVALU products compared to other products...

On the sidelines of the Workshop and Forum, there will be activities introducing agricultural products of domestic manufacturers; Exhibition of new products and technologies serving agriculture of Japanese and Vietnamese enterprises.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/viet-nam-va-nhat-ban-tim-huong-thuc-day-giao-thuong-nong-san-360319.html