Japanese firms eye Vietnamese handicraft products

The Japanese businessmen are scheduled to call at the 2007 Việt Nam Craft Village Exhibition in Hà Nội, attend a seminar discussing ways to boost the export of handicraft items to Japan, and meet with craftsmen and exporters in Hà Nội and Hồ Chí Minh City.

Products that have attracted interest from Japanese businesses include craft gifts, dried flowers, decorations and other items made of bamboo, rattan, porcelain, pottery, glass, and embroidery.

The Vietnamese Trade Mission in Japan, which joins the Việt Nam Trade Promotion Agency to organize the visit, said Japan has a great demand for handicraft products, with an annual import turnover reaching close to US $2 billion.

However, the mission said, Việt Nam’s handicraft product exports to Japan remained modest, fetching some US $54 million per year or just 3 percent of the East Asian country’s total handicraft import revenues.

(Source: VNA)