Boosting agricultural exports to Japan

According to the Viet Nam Trade Office in Japan, in 2024, Viet Nam’s export turnover of agricultural, forestry, and aquatic products to Japan exceeded 4 billion USD, with an average growth rate of over 6% per year over the past decade. High-demand agricultural and aquatic products in the Japanese market include: seafood, roasted and instant coffee, packaged fragrant rice and fruits.

Particularly, the export price of Vietnamese rice to Japan increased sharply as rice prices in the Japanese market continued to fluctuate, driving up demand in 2025.

Rice imports from Viet Nam rose nearly tenfold in 2024 compared to 2023. In the first five months of 2025, Viet Nam’s rice exports to Japan already surpassed the full-year volume of 2024. Products such as cashew nuts, fresh fruits (dragon fruit, coconuts, lychees), and dried fruits have appeared in Japanese supermarket chains like AEON, Don Quijote, and Ito Yokado.

For fresh lychees, in the 2025 harvest season, Vietnamese enterprises exported about 200 tonnes to Japan. The fresh lychees were sold through retail systems and online platforms such as social networks and Amazon.

Japan was Viet Nam’s fourth-largest fruit export market in the first quarter of 2025, with a growth rate of 22.8% compared to the same period in 2024.

Pham Thai Binh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Trung An High-Tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company, said that in early June, the company exported 500 tonnes of low-emission rice to Japan. It is expected that in October, the company will continue exporting about 2,500 tonnes of rice to Japan, with two main types of ST25 and Japonica.

Apart from quality certifications such as ISO, HACCP, and Global GAP, the company’s rice has also met Japan Agricultural Standards (JAS), and therefore there are many opportunities to increase market share in Japan, especially as Japanese consumers prefer clean products and are willing to pay extra for goods with certification, traceability, and strict standards.

Beyond key products such as rice and fruits, Japan is also increasingly importing tea, seafood, and coffee from Viet Nam.

Data from the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade shows that in the first four months of 2025, Japan imported 8,000 tonnes of tea worth 56.04 million USD. Tea imports from Viet Nam soared by 163.2% in volume and 555.6% in value compared to the same period in 2024.

Viet Nam’s tea market share in Japan increased from 0.29% in volume and 0.27% in value in the first four months of 2024 to 0.73% in volume and 1.58% in value in the same period of 2025. Although the volume of tea imported from Viet Nam remains low, the average import price surged by 149.1% year-on-year, proving that the quality of Vietnamese tea is more highly appreciated and there is a shift to high-value segments.

For aquatic products, Viet Nam’s exports to Japan reached 632.51 million USD in the first five months of 2025, up 9.06% year-on-year, with many categories showing strong growth such as frozen fish, shrimp, crab, squid, and octopus.

It is forecasted that Japan’s demand for imported aquatic products will rise sharply in the third quarter of 2025, offering a significant opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to boost exports.

To diversify agricultural products imported into Japan in the near future, Ta Duc Minh, Trade Counsellor at the Viet Nam Trade Office in Japan, recommended that Vietnamese enterprises should not compete on low prices in the Japanese market but instead enhance product value through deep processing, which can increase product value by two to three times; use environmentally friendly packaging, which is preferred by 60% of Japanese consumers; and ensure transparent traceability, which can raise selling prices by 10–15%.

Particularly, packaging should reflect Japanese style with full Japanese-language information, simple but beautiful design, showing brand reputation, which can improve consumption rates by 20–30%.

“Enterprises should build clear and long-term business strategies for the Japanese market, focusing on upgrading production processes, technology, management methods, labour standards, and factory conditions to meet Japan’s technical, social, and environmental standards. They should also intensify trade promotion activities in Japan, and actively participate in international fairs and exhibitions held in Japan, which are good opportunities to introduce products and goods to potential partners. Furthermore, they must ensure the standardisation of the entire supply chain to take advantage of tariff incentives of free trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the Viet Nam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA), in order to create a distinct advantage for agricultural products in the current competitive context,” Ta Duc Minh emphasised.

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