Trade pact to boost agricultural, seafood exports ....

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Trade pact to boost agricultural, seafood exports ....

Trade pact to boost agricultural, seafood exports to Japan

Published on : September 14th, 2011

A new free trade agreement between Vietnam and Japan will give local agriculture and aquiculture product exporters more opportunities to enter the Japanese market thanks to lower tariffs, officials have said.

Industry and Trade Minister Vu Huy Hoang said the most important benefit from the Economic Partnership Agreement, which was signed on Thursday, was that Japan would open the door wider for Vietnamese farm and seafood products.

Under the agreement, Vietnam will get duty-free access to the Japanese market for 7,264 of the 9,111 products it exports to Japan.

Vietnamese shrimp, for instance, would no longer be taxed once the agreement took effect, said Le Quang Lan, a senior official of the ministry. The current duties for Vietnamese aquatic products range from 10 to 15 percent, he said.

Truong Dinh Hoe, secretary general of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP), said the country exported US$785 million worth of aquaculture products to Japan this year and the duty-free access for many products means local exporters will be able to ship more next year.

But Lan said local exporters of farm and aquatic products would have to meet many strict requirements if they wanted to enter the Japanese market.

Therefore, local exporters need to pay attention to the quality of their products, especially food safety issues, he said.

VASEP's Hoe said all seafood products must pass antibiotic residue tests before they are allowed to enter the Japanese market, so some local exporters could find it hard to ship their products to Japan.

Minister Vu Huy Hoang said Vietnamese businesses needed to carefully study Japan's requirements to ensure their shipments were not rejected.

Japan and Vietnam signed the Economic Partnership Agreement with a promise to cut tariffs on 92 percent of goods and services they trade within a decade.

The two sides began negotiations for the agreement in January 2007.

Vietnam's exports to Japan last year were worth $6.14 billion, while imports from Japan totaled $6.12 billion.

Bilateral trade is expected to top $15 billion this year, two years earlier than targeted.

Source: Agencies

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