Japanese delegation to exploit booming Vietnamese agri-business

A group of 18 Japanese firms, including Yamabiko Corporation, Snow Brand Seed Co., Ltd., AN Corporation, Sorimachi Vietnam, Futaba Seed Co., Ltd., and Takara Inc., will join a business-matching workshop in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on February 17, 2017 to seek Vietnamese partners.

These firms will discuss business cooperation opportunities with about 50 Vietnamese companies.

"We want to study the possibilities of expanding operations in the ASEAN and investing in agriculture business in Vietnam in the future by developing an agriculture network," said an official at Snow Brand Seed Co., Ltd.

Meanwhile, Mine Farm, which specialises in strawberry cultivation in Japan, is planning to establish a company to grow strawberry in Lam Dong in 2017. The name of the firm is expected to be "Navi."

In a similar move, Takara Inc., which focuses on garlic growing, is interested in developing a distribution agent in Ho Chi Minh City. This firm also plans to introduce Japanese seeds and technology to garlic growing in Vietnam.

“The number of Japanese firms wishing to implement agro-fishery projects in Vietnam has been growing strongly. Many are conducting market surveys,” said Mutsuya Mori, the chief representative of JICA’s Vietnam Office.

In 2015, the number of Japan’s agro-forestry-fishery projects in Vietnam stood at 82, making up 6 per cent of the total $1.3 billion new Japanese investment in the country. This rate ranked third in Japan’s total new committed capital, after manufacturing (51 per cent) and construction (28 per cent).

Meanwhile, in the previous years, Japanese agro-forestry-fishery investment in Vietnam was almost negligible.

“Vietnam’s agriculture has big potential. For instance, we found during our survey in Lam Dong that if local farmers replaced coffee trees with flower plantations, their income would rise by nine times,” Mori said.

The Vietnamese agro-forestry-aquatic sector is expected to reap better fruits in 2017 after riding out economic woes to win its laurels in 2016.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Vietnam’s total agro-forestry-aquatic export turnover is expected to hit a new surplus record of about $8 billion in 2017, up from a record $7.6 billion in 2016.

These figures far surpass the whole economy’s trade surplus of $2.6 billion in 2016 and an ambitious expectation of $6.5 billion for 2017.