The first Vietnamese "billion dollar" commodity group in the Japanese market

	Major export commodity groups in the first quarter 2018
	One more commodity group become “billion USD” in the first quarter of 2018
	"Bumper" exports in early 2018

Textiles are the largest export group of Vietnam to Japan. Photo: T.Binh.

In addition, Japan is also Vietnam's largest trading partner among the 10 trading partners under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The latest information from the General Department of Vietnam Customs shows that by the end of April 2018, the total value of Vietnam's exports to Japan reached nearly $US 5.75 billion, an increase of 14.5% over the same period of 2017.

Notably, by the end of April 2018, Vietnam had the first commodity group exported to Japan that reached $US 1 billion, while in the same period last year, Vietnam did not have any "billion dollar" exported commodity group to Japan.

The first "billion dollar" commodity group is textiles and garments with a turnover of $US 1.112 billion, an increase of 19.2% over the same period of 2017. The growth rate of textile and garment exports to Japan is higher than the export growth rate of Vietnam's exports to this market and also higher than the general growth of the textile and garment industry (the overall growth of textile and garment in April 2018 was only 14.5%).

In addition to textiles, some of Vietnam's major export items to Japan include transport means and spare parts; machinery, equipment, tools and accessories; wood and wooden products.

By the end of April 2018, the trade balance between Vietnam and Japan maintained at a relatively balanced level as Vietnam's surplus was $US 81 million. This has occurred in recent years when the gap between trade deficit between the two countries is not significant.

Although Vietnam has a trade surplus with Japan, but Japan has more "billion dollar" exported commodity groups than Vietnam. By the end of April 2018, there were two groups of goods imported from Japan with a turnover of $US 1 billion or more, “Machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts” reached $US 1.408 billion and “computers, electronic products and accessories” reached $US 1.164 billion.

An expression of interest in import activities from Japan is a sharp decline in the number of CBU cars.

Major import commodity groups in the first quarter of 2018 VCN- According to the trade statistics of the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC), imports in the ...

In the first four months of 2018, Vietnam imported 89 CBU cars from Japan, valued at $US 7.026 million. During the same period of 2017, the figure was 1,403 vehicles from Japan, valued at $US 43.3 million.