Over 70 authentic Japanese food and agricultural products are being sold at low prices at a Japanese pop-up shop called “Hello Japan” at Saigon Centre in HCM City’s District 1. Photo nld.vn
A Japanese pop-up shop named “Xin chào Nhật Bản” (Hello Japan) at Saigon Centre in HCM City’s District 1 is selling thousands of Japanese products at low prices.
On until October 12 the promotion features some 74 food and other agricultural products imported by Japanese companies in Việt Nam, such as Kosui pear, supplements, juice, matcha powder, fruit jelly, rice oil, and confectionary.
They cost VNĐ19,000-50,000 (US$0.76-2.0) each, and gift packages are sold at VNĐ300,000-500,000 (US$12.1-20.2).
The HCM City office of the Japan External Trade Organisation, one of the organisers, said since its opening Saturday, Japanese pears have been the best-seller and are sold at VNĐ300,000 per kilogramme.
Coffee is also a key product, and costs VNĐ450,000 (US$18.2) for 120 grams.
The Japanese consul general in HCM City, Ono Masuo, said his country’s food products have great flavour and high quality, but their high prices make many people shy away from buying them. So the products at the pop-up shop are sold at affordable prices to attract local consumers, he said.
“I hope this event will strongly promote Japanese products among Vietnamese people.”
Katsunori Nakazawa, vice chairman of JETRO, said another concern is fake Japanese fruits and food products circulating in the market.
He cited the example of so-called Japanese grapes, which are sold at various prices ranging from VNĐ150,000 (US$6) to nearly VNĐ2 million (US$80.87).
To mitigate the problem, JETRO has been working to create a platform for customers and enterprises to report fake Japanese products, he said.
He hoped the two nations would work to unify phytosanitary regulations so that more Japanese fruits such as grapes and momo peaches could be imported into the country.
JETRO said Việt Nam is Japan’s sixth largest market for agricultural, forestry, seafood, and food products, and there is great potential for more Japanese products to penetrate it.
With Japan aiming to increase exports of agricultural, forestry, seafood, and food products to VNĐ855 trillion (US$34.6 billion) by 2030, exports to Việt Nam are expected to skyrocket, it said. — VNS