From April 30th, Vietnamese bananas for export have been available at the Don Kihote retail supermarket chain. This marks the first official appearance of Vietnamese bananas in the Japanese retail market.

Vietnamese bananas have officially successfully conquered the Japanese market and will be sold at the Don Kihote retail supermarket chain.

With approximately 15 tons of bananas exported to the Japanese market by Huy Long An Company, Don Kihote has started selling Vietnamese bananas at more than 10 locations within its retail supermarket system in Tokyo and many surrounding areas such as Saitama and Chiba.

It is expected that in the near future, the Japanese market will double its volume of banana imports from Vietnam, while also expanding its distribution network.

Speaking to the press, Mr. Hidekatsu Ishikawa, President of VIENT Company, a Japanese import business, highly praised the quality of Vietnamese bananas, noting their sweetness suitable for Japanese consumers' tastes and competitive prices.

Mr. Ishikawa also revealed that besides the Don Kihote retail supermarket chain, several other local supermarket chains, such as Chalenger in Niigata Prefecture, have also started selling Vietnamese bananas.

Previously, since 2013, Vietnamese bananas had begun to be exported to the Japanese market; however, this was only on a trial basis to explore the market, so Vietnamese bananas at that time were not included in large supermarket chains like Don Quixote.

With its first official appearance in the Japanese retail market, Vietnamese bananas are gaining new opportunities to expand their distribution network and increase export volume.

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, since the beginning of 2014, the markets of China, Singapore, South Korea, and many Eastern European countries have unexpectedly increased their imports of Vietnamese bananas. Even with a more than 20% increase in farm-gate prices, Vietnam still doesn't have enough supply to meet export demands.

Currently, the banana market in China is ready to purchase more than 20-30 tons per day, and Japan needs about 15-20 tons per day, but Vietnam is not yet able to meet this demand.

Furthermore, the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) even stated that Vietnam is one of the countries threatening to take away the Philippines' position as the largest banana exporter in Asia and the second largest in the world.

PBGEA emphasized that although bananas remain a key fresh fruit export item for the Philippines, as they are still the main exporter of bananas to markets such as Japan, South Korea, China, and New Zealand.

However, businesses in this country are concerned about losing market share in high-end markets such as Japan if the government does not become more proactive in negotiating tariff reductions with importing countries.

According to VOV