.jpg "Photo: Tuoi Tre")
Vietnamese ceramic products will be the highlight of a week-long festival in the southern province of Binh Duong in September
Photo: Tuoi Tre
Vietnamese businesses need to pay more attention to designing and creating unique handicraft products in order to boost exports to the Japanese market and increase their competitiveness over rivals from China, India and Myanmar, say Japanese experts.
At a seminar on increasing handicraft exports to the Japanese market, held in Hanoi Thursday, Setsuko Okura, Managing Director of the Japanese company Osmic Ltd, said that after becoming more competitive and attractive, many Vietnamese handicrafts have become popular in the Japanese market.
The use of Vietnam’s embroidered bags has also become trendy with young Japanese people.
She stated that in recent years, the design of Vietnamese ceramic and lacquer products has been vastly improved. However, to penetrate deeper into the Japanese market, Vietnamese handicrafts must ensure two factors: design and price.
According to Takata, a leading Japanese designer, besides these two factors, Vietnam’s handicraft products must be unique and decorative.
He suggested that the Vietnamese government should introduce strategies to train designers and encourage Vietnamese students to study design in Japan to ascertain Japanese consumers’ tastes.
At the seminar, several Japanese experts chose 10 Vietnamese handicraft producers to attend an exhibition themed “Lifestyle Vietnam ” in Tokyo from November 30 to December 9 this year.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Japan is one of Vietnam ’s major handicraft importers and is expected to import US$150 million worth of Vietnamese handicrafts this year, accounting for 4 percent of the country’s total handicraft import value.
