Nichirei Foods of Japan has entered the Vietnamese market by acquiring a 19 percent of stake in Vietnam 's food joint stock company Cholimex.

Having paid 6.25 million USD for the investment, Nichirei Foods said it plans to expand its presence in the Vietnamese processed food market in due course.

Vietnam 's trade in frozen food totalled some 125 million USD and Thailand 's was about 312 million USD while the market in Japan was worth 10.3 billion USD. Therefore, Nichirei expects the Vietnamese market will grow strongly in future.

Cholimex is one of Vietnam 's biggest providers of spices and an exporter of frozen food to Europe . The company's turnover is around 25 million USD a year with an average annual growth rate of 30 percent.

Nichirei Foods plans to send technical staff to help Cholimex diversify its frozen food products and establish a business foundation in Vietnamese potential market in the coming times.

If everything runs well, the Japanese company will increase its investment in Cholimex in two years.

Nichirei Foods' main products are frozen foods and other processed foods.-VNA