At a conference on July 30, Naoko Tahara, Agricultural Attaché at the Consulate-General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City, described Japanese demand for Vietnamese agricultural products that meet environmental and green standards as having 'very great potential.' Behind this lies the fact that in 2025 Vietnam rose from sixth to fourth place as a supplier of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and food to Japan. For Japanese food manufacturers and trading houses, this move prompts a rethink of sourcing design around 'from which production area, and with what certification, do we buy.' This article lays out concretely what is growing and what the next conditions will be.
The substance of the 'potential' Attaché Tahara pointed to was ¥374.4 billion in forestry products and a surge in coffee
Tahara's remarks are not abstract rhetoric but backed by recent import results. In JETRO's compilation of Japan's 2025 imports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and food, the top suppliers were, in order, the United States (¥2.3481 trillion), China (¥1.8065 trillion), Thailand (¥819.7 billion), Vietnam (¥771.2 billion) and Canada (¥764.9 billion). Against the backdrop of a sharp rise in forestry products, Vietnam jumped from sixth place the previous year straight to fourth.
The driver was forestry products such as timber, with imports of ¥374.4 billion, up 24.7% year on year. Coffee beans too, while flat in volume, grew in value by about 50% from the previous year. Shrimp is also moving as a mainstay item for Japan. The timber, coffee and shrimp that Tahara cited are all 'items actually being bought' with figures to back them up. The Japanese market, with a population of over 100 million, has deep demand for high-quality food — a structure that serves as a receiving base for Vietnamese products.
From 'we'll buy if it's cheap' to 'can you prove it' — the conditions Japanese procurement officers check first have changed
What Tahara stressed alongside demand was the high level that Japanese consumers require. Quality, food safety, traceability and stable sourcing — on top of these four points, environmental protection and climate-change response are becoming 'factors that decide purchases.' Import value is indeed rising, but within it the conditions that determine which production areas are chosen are being swapped out — that is the key point.
In Japanese practice, this is nothing new. Major food manufacturers have long set out basic 'green procurement' policies and have made a traceability system from raw material through production and shipment a precondition of doing business. In other words, the wall for Vietnamese products is neither tariffs nor price, but has shifted to 'can you demonstrate the environment and the history in documents and on the ground.' Conversely, a production area that has built up the systems to prove this can step out of price competition and move closer to long-term contracts.
| Items | Why it is growing in Japanese procurement | The green conditions that will be asked next |
|---|---|---|
| Forestry products / timber | ¥374.4 billion in 2025, up 24.7%, pushing up the ranking | Proof of legal logging and sustainable forest management |
| Coffee beans | Import value up about 50% from the previous year | Decarbonization in cultivation and processing, and clear disclosure of history |
| Shrimp | Fishery products, a mainstay for Japan | Demonstration of low-emission aquaculture and traceability |
The figures are based on 2025 results published by JETRO. The right-hand column of the table is the dividing line that will determine future growth in trade value.
The yardstick for 'green' differs by item — for coffee, decarbonization, and for shrimp, proof of low emissions, makes the difference
Even lumped together as 'environmentally conscious,' what Japanese buyers look at differs by item. In coffee, efforts to turn branches and leaves that used to be discarded after harvest into resources are advancing, and decarbonization in the production area is starting to become a new selling point. Whether Vietnamese coffee can present its history and low environmental burden as a set overlaps with the move to turn coffee branches and leaves that would have been discarded into resources. Now, with import value up 50%, there is ample room to be chosen for the story rather than the price.
For shrimp, the quality of the proof itself becomes material for negotiation. In Ca Mau Province, the EU and an NGO spent 42 months verifying 'low-emission shrimp,' and this is an attempt to test whether it can stand up as proof for procurement. For Japanese trading houses, a production area with such third-party verification is precisely the kind that is easy to run through an in-house sustainable-sourcing policy. For timber and agricultural products as a whole, the institutional design of growing-area codes (cultivation-area codes) forms the foundation of traceability. Vietnam's shift in which it eased the requirements for obtaining growing-area codes and moved to a post-inspection-led approach means the way documents are issued is changing, which also affects the verification procedures on the Japanese side.
What Japanese procurement officers can do before signing: viewing the production area's 'proof system' in three stages
Now that demand has been confirmed, the faster the importer side moves, the more advantageous. Here are concrete steps that can be put to positive use, in stages.
- Confirm the starting point of the history: First establish whether the growing-area code or cultivation-area registration is by cooperative or by individual farmer. Since the system has shifted toward a post-inspection-led approach, ask the counterparty directly about the document format and update frequency.
- Look at the third-party nature of the environmental proof: Whether it is self-declared, or verification involving the EU, an NGO or a certification body, changes how easily it passes Japan's in-house review. Place production areas with evidence of low emissions and decarbonization as priority candidates.
- Pin down supply stability in volume terms: The 'stable supply source' that Tahara cited is judged not by a one-off good lot but by the annual shipment plan. Hear out the planted area, shipment timing and the fallback in poor-harvest years, and draw up a volume blueprint before signing.
From Japanese trading houses on the ground in Vietnam, one hears the sense that production areas with well-established environmental and history proof find it easier to take the initiative on pricing. Production areas that sell on cheapness alone, conversely, have entered a phase where they are more likely to be dropped from consideration. Tahara's word 'potential' can be read as a practical signal from the Japanese side that, depending on the efforts of the Vietnamese side, there is still room to grow.
