Vietnam’s exports to Japan and Korea are mainly agricultural products, textiles, and footwear. However, the proportion of Vietnam’s export turnover only accounts for less than 4% of the total imports of these two countries.
Vietnam’s exports to Japan and Korea account for a small proportion of the two countries’ total imports, 2.7% and 3.3% respectively while they are our important trade partners.
THE RESULT IS NOT YET AS EXPECTED
At the seminar “Promoting trade relations between Vietnam, Japan, and Korea in the new situation” held by the Center for International Integration (CIIs) in collaboration with the Trade and Investment Promotion Center (ITPC) on April 19, 2023, Mr. Pham Binh An, Deputy Director of the Institute for International Development Studies (HIDS), said that: For the first time, Vietnam’s import and export exceeded the milestone of more than 700 billion USD in 2022, bringing our country into the group of leading economies in international trade.
Speakers said that Vietnam needs to build high-quality human resources and invest in infrastructure development with socialized capital to improve product quality.
According to international organizations, Vietnam’s exports will face many difficulties due to the decline in global demand, especially in major economies, which are important import markets of Vietnam.
In this context, the effective exploitation of markets such as Japan and Korea will contribute significantly to promoting export growth.
Especially, Vietnam’s exports to Japan and Korea have many opportunities to expand and grow as Vietnam and Japan have signed and implemented free trade agreements (FTAs) such as the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (AJCEP), the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Vietnam and Korea have also signed and implemented FTAs including the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade in Goods Agreement (AKFTA), Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
However, according to Mr. Do Quoc Hung, Deputy Director of the Asia-Africa Market Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade: Japan’s import standards are increasingly strict. In the agricultural and fishery products industry alone, in the past 05 years, the number of Vietnamese export batches to Japan returned has nearly doubled from 54 batches in 2018 to 90 batches in 2022.
Not only agricultural and fishery products but the textile and garment industry also has to continuously encounter challenges. The products are required to not only be durable and diverse in design but also meet environmentally friendly standards./.