Japan is always the important traditional trade partner of Vietnam. Japan now ranks fourth in the list of over 200 countries and territories that have trade relationship with Vietnam after China, South Korea and the U.S. Japan was the leading investor in Vietnam in 2017 with the total registered capital of over US$ 9 billion.

Last year, the bilateral trade exchange between Vietnam and Japan reached $ 33.4 billion. Of the figure, Vietnam exported $ 16.8 billion worth of goods to, and imported $ 16.6 billion worth of goods from Japan.

In the first four months of this year, the country’s total exports of goods to Japan reached nearly $ 5.75 billion, up by nearly 13.6 per cent over the same period last year.

In the period, the exports of textiles and garments to Japan reached $ 1.11 billion, up by 18.8 per cent year – on – year; while the exports of means of transport and spare parts reached $ 756.35 million, up by 14.5 per cent; machines, equipment and spare parts - $ 572.26 million, up by 5.4 per cent; seafood - $ 376.36 million, up by over 4.7 per cent; wood and furniture - $ 350.67 million, up by 2.3 per cent.

In the first for months of this year, the country’s exports of iron and steel rocketed by 486.9 per cent to $ 26.93 million; plastics - up by 339 per cent to $ 13.45 million; cassava and products – up by 263.9 per cent to $ 2.42 million; telephones and components – up by 110.4 per cent to $ 194.58 million.

However, the exports of pepper to Japan decreased by 23.5 per cent to $ 4.99 million; crude oil – down by 30.8 per cent to $ 116.69 million; fertilizer of all kinds – down by 22.2 per cent to $ 0.35 million; and rubber – down by 22 per cent to $ 5.93 million.

In the first four months of this year, Vietnam got $ 81 million of surplus in trade exchange with Japan.