Vietnam Industrial Parks InfoGate ! Industrial Zones ! Export Processing Zones ! US, EU garment markets narrowed, Vietnamese companies focus on Japan

Statistics from the General Department of Customs showed that in the first six months of the year, export turnover of garments sent to Japan was USD 440 million, an increase of 22 percent over the same period of 2009.

Horikoshi, a Japanese fashion designer, said that Vietnam now has a big opportunity to conquer Japan’s market, especially as it is backed by the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) effective as of July 2009.

Under the agreement, those Vietnamese enterprises which use fabric sourced from Japan will enjoy the tariff of 0 percent instead of five or ten percent as previously. He said Japanese importers highly praise the stability and skills of Vietnamese workers.

Currently, Japan is the second biggest garment consumption market, where the market segment of fashion products for young women accounts for 60 percent of the total market value, worth some USD 28 billion. According to Horikoshi, Vietnam-made products will not be able to compete with China in the low-cost product market in Japan. However, he said that the high-grade product market still has room for Vietnamese producers to build up their brand names and boost exports to the market.

In fact, Japan is a loyal export market for Vietnamese garment products. A lot of Vietnamese enterprises have been successful with the market, namely Nha Be, Garment Company No 10, Nam Dinh Textile and Garment Company and Phong Phu Textile.

Horikoshi has advised Vietnamese enterprises to carefully study the demands and tastes of Japanese to provide Vietnam-made products with suitable designs. The consumption demand of Japanese consumers has seen some changes: the country tends to import many products and in smaller quantities rather than few products and in big quantities.

He has given some advice on the fashion trend in the coming years, saying that the designs should come from feelings from nature and traditional costumes, or from economic or political events. For example, the fact that the US, for the first time, has a coloured president, has kicked off a wave of African-style fashion in the US and European countries.

According to Vu Van Trung, Trade Cousellor to Japan, exports of garments sent to Japan in recent years always increase by 9-10 percent annually.

Trung said that trade counsellors and Horikoshi will visit some workshops specialising in exporting garments to Japan to give more advice to them.

In an effort to boost exports to Japan, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has instructed garment companies to build garment material transaction centres and training centres which will be in charge of providing materials to export companies.

Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association Le Van Dao said that if the current export growth rate continues, garment exports to Japan in 2009 will increase by 18-20 percent to reach USD 900 million to USD 1 billion and reach USD 1.1-1.2 billion in 2010.