Exports to Japan increased 25.4 percent year on year to 5.5 billion USD in the first three quarters, making up 9.5 percent of the nation’s gross export revenues, reported the General Statistics Department.

Japan imports a number of products which are Vietnam’s strengths, such as rubber and minerals. Other products, including apparel, seafood, electric wires and cables, have increasingly been sought by Japan.

Shipments of apparel to Japan have grown steadily recently, especially since the bilateral agreement on economic partnership came into effect in October 2009.

Under the deal, apparel imported into Japan will enjoy zero percent tariffs in all categories, generating a big chance for Vietnamese products to take a firm foothold in the world’s second-largest economy.

The garment making and textile industry has managed to increase its export revenues to Japan by 14.3 percent to 795 million USD in the first nine months of the year. The figure is expected to reach 1.2 billion USD for the whole of 2010.

Japan has emerged as Vietnam’s third largest apparel market, following the US and the EU.

Seafood is another of Vietnam’s major hard currency earners in the East Asian market with export revenues up almost 19 percent year on year to 637 million USD in the first three quarters.

Despite steady growth, Vietnam-made items still garner a modest share in the demanding Japanese market, accounting for just one percent of its gross import revenues. Products from China, Thailand and Malaysia make up 20 percent, 2.9 percent and 2.8 percent of Japan’s import revenues, respectively.

Economists have therefore called on domestic producers to study technical rules and product quality standards imposed by Japan on foreign-made products./.