Yasuzumi Hirotaka, Managing Director of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Ho Chi Minh City said that many Japanese businesses had invested in industrial production in Vietnam from 1990-2012. However, since 2012 they have tended to invest in services, agriculture and food.
Ho Chi Minh City currently has 300 Japanese-invested food stores, of which 80 percent target Vietnamese customers. For this reason, many Japanese businesses are looking for partners to increase opportunities to export Japanese food to Vietnam such as dairy products, cheese, confectionery, soft drinks and fresh semi-processed food like beef, cuttlefish and octopus.
Mainichi, a Japanese old newspaper, received funds from the Japanese Ministry of Economics early this year to help Japanese medium to small-sized businesses sell their products in Vietnam. Mainichi has jointly worked with the Japanese Partners Plus Company to open a Plus Mainichi shop in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, which not only advertises Japanese products like food, cosmetics, toys and household utensils but also links Vietnamese distributors and Japanese producers.
Many Japanese businesses have recently visited Vinh Phuc Province to learn about a high-tech vegetable growing project, while looking for opportunities to develop fishing and tuna processing in Binh Dinh Province. A Japanese business team has also visited the Mekong Delta to seek opportunities to invest in agriculture and fisheries.
Taking major opportunities
Yasuzumi Hirotaka said that Japanese investment in agriculture and food in Vietnam would continue increasing in the near future as the Japanese government is providing much support for their food businesses to invest abroad. Many Japanese businesses are concerned about farming in Vietnam and are ready to share their experience in developing agriculture to increase the added value of Vietnamese farm products. In the event that the Vietnamese government applies support policies, many Japanese businesses will cooperate with Vietnamese partners in the long term by building agricultural and food processing factories to produce major items such as coffee, tea, shrimp, vegetables and fruits in Vietnam. Most Vietnamese agricultural and forest products and seafood for export are low-value semi-processed goods and are unable to enter hard-to-please markets, Yasuzumi Hirotaka said.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Department of Agriculture-Forest-Fishery Processing and Salt Industry has submitted a scheme to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to develop the agriculture-fishery processing industry until 2030, within the framework of cooperation with Japan and with a goal for Vietnam to become a reliable provider of high-quality and safe agricultural products, seafood and food./.
By Ngoc Thao