Japan Becomes Vietnam's Major Handicraft Importer

Exports of handicrafts and fine arts to Japan are estimated to annually contribute around 10-29 per cent of Vietnam’s total handicraft export value, said Nguyen Bao, Vice Chairman of the Trade Promotion Department under the Ministry of Trade at a seminar on November 2 in Hanoi.

 

The seminar, jointly held by the department and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), is aimed at promoting exports of handicrafts and fine art articles to Japan in the future. 

 

Vietnam's handicrafts and fine art articles are highly competitive in terms of price thanks to the great availability of input material and the country’s large work force, said a representative of JETRO, Hiroshi Kobayashi.

 

At the seminar, the JETRO official has advised Vietnamese handicraft producers to introduce products bearing Vietnamese imprints to Japanese consumers.

 

He further said that Vietnam's high-quality items could be easily marketed in Japan as they meet Japanese customers' taste.

 

Vietnam should produce products of its own character to compete with handicrafts from China and other ASEAN countries in the Japanese market.

 

The best way to market handicrafts and fine art items is through Japanese visitors who travel or do business in Vietnam, he added.

 

In related news, fine art handicrafts have been among the top 10 export products for Vietnam with the highest growth rate over the past seven years. The country reportedly gained US$459 million from shipping handicrafts and fine arts abroad in the last ten months of this year, up 11.2 per cent on-year.

 

Vietnam's wooden products are sold in 120 countries and territories. The three biggest markets are the United States, the European Union and Japan. Vietnam ranks fourth among countries exporting woodwork to Japan.