Visitors at a booth displaying Vietnamese goods at a workshop on exports to Japan through retailer AEON (Source: VNA) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese exporters must make highly competitiveproducts if they want them to be distributed in Japan through the network ofAEON group, experts told a meeting in HCM City on July 22.
Speaking at the workshop, held to discuss exports to Japan organised by the HCMCity Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC), Nguyen Huu Tin, itsdirector, said though Vietnam has been contained the outbreak of COVID-19, theglobal situation remains grim, causing a shortage of raw materials and severelyaffecting export activities.
“In the ‘new normal state’ Vietnamese businesses must apply advancedtechnologies, improve their production capacity and competitiveness, developnew supply chains, and seek new export markets.
“Japan is one of Vietnam’s biggest trade partners, accounting for a largeproportion of some of Vietnam’s key exports such as garment-textiles andfisheries.”
Nishitohge Yasuo, General Director of AEON Vietnam, said the country’s exportsthrough his company’s network were worth 381 million USD last year, of which 75percent were garments.
The exports of food items and consumer goods remained low, he said.
Yuichiro Shiotani, General Director of AEON Topvalu Vietnam, said Japan is theworld’s third biggest economy with highly demanding requirements of imports,especially food, garment-textiles, footwear, fisheries, agricultural, plasticand wood products.
These are many products that Vietnam has advantages of, and AEON hasprioritised their import from Vietnam, particularly of apparel, food andhousehold and healthcare products for distribution through its stores globally,he said.
It has provided technical support to improve the production capabilities ofVietnamese suppliers, helped them access Japanese customers and increased thepurchase of Vietnamese goods to sell at its stores in Japan and elsewhere, hesaid.
Strict requirements
Nguyen Thi Duy Xuan, Director of AEON Vietnam’s supplier management division,said to enter the supermarket system, suppliers need to meet stringenttechnical standards and requirements.
“The product must not have a low reputation for quality. They must have therequired licences and certificates. Shipping conditions and product containersmust conform to the requirements of each type of product. Products must meetVietnamese requirements related to traceability and environmental protection.The use of plant protection drugs, antibiotics, veterinary drugs, and others inproduction must also comply with Vietnamese regulations.”
Shiotani said Vietnamese businesses need to enhance investment, expand scale,improve the quality of their products, and produce in the form of originalequipment manufacturer (OEM), among others.
AEON has stringent conditions for export partners, he said. “For example, theproduction scale must be 10 times the quantity ordered and enterprises musthave experience in producing [those] products.”
AEON also has a code of conduct for export partners, which involves basicallycomplying with the laws of the country to which they export their products.
It has provisions related to child labour, forced labour, hygiene and safety,discipline, working time, wages and benefits, management responsibilities, andenvironmental protection.
AEON makes an assessment of prospective vendors’ factories before signing anyagreement.
Tomoaki Fukui, senior director of AEON Topvalu product division, said theJapanese market has its own standards and so does AEON.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Japanese company have signed amemorandum of understanding under which AEON is committed to increasing Vietnam’sexports through its supply network to 500 million USD this year and 1 billion USDby 2025./.
VNA
