Hanoi (VNA) – The elimination of manytariff lines for goods under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has helped Vietnam’s exports to Japanincrease sharply in the first quarter of 2019, according to theGeneral Department of Vietnam Customs.

Vietnam's export value to Japan in the firstquarter surged 6.7 percent year on year to 4.6 billion USD, helping the countryto become one of three markets gaining an export value in billions of USdollars to Japan, after the US and China.

In March 2019 alone, the export value to Japanreached 1.7 billion USD, a sharp increase of 62.3 percent month on month and asurge of 2.7 percent year on year.

The strong growth in Vietnam’s export value toJapan was attributed to the CPTPP. According to this agreement, Japan for thefirst time has pledged to completely eliminate tariffs for the majority of Vietnam'sagricultural and seafood products exported to this market.

That meant Japan immediately abolished 86 percentof tariff lines, equivalent to 93.6 percent of Vietnam's export value to Japan,and then this figure will increase to 90 percent of tariff lines within fiveyears.

On the other hand, the Vietnam-Japan andASEAN-Japan free trade agreements have created advantages in tariffs for someof Vietnam's seafood products exported to Japan.

About 62.5 percent of Vietnam’s total goodsitems exported to Japan in the first quarter gained strong growth compared tothe same period last year, according to the general department.

The major export products to Japan includedtextiles (export value of about 900 million USD), means of transport and spareparts (630 million USD), machinery and equipment (450 million USD) and seafoodproducts (306 million USD).

Especially, Vietnam’s fertiliser exports to thismarket had a sudden growth in the first quarter of 2019 to 8,126 tonnes,earning 3.7 million USD. The exports rose up by five times in volume and about11 times in value year on year.

In addition, Vietnam saw strong growth inexports of some goods to Japan in the first quarter, including chemicalproducts (up 70 percent), animal feed and raw materials (up 56.8 percent), oreand minerals (up 52 percent), all kinds of steel (up 49 percent) and plasticmaterials (up 43 percent).

Meanwhile, Japan sharply reduced imports ofcassava and cassava products from Vietnam, with a reduction of 99.6 percent involume and 98.5 percent in value over the same period, despite the averageexport price of cassava surging by 3.3 times to 886 USD per tonne.

In 2018, Vietnam's goods export value to Japanreached more than 18.8 billion USD. Textiles and garments accounted for thelargest proportion with over 20 percent of the total export value. Meanwhile,seafood, furniture and footwear respectively hold 7.4 percent, 6.1 percent and4.5 percent.-VNA