{"id":1347,"date":"2026-07-15T15:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T06:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/?post_type=industry_news&p=1347"},"modified":"2026-07-15T15:53:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T06:53:22","slug":"vietnam-japan-fisheries","status":"publish","type":"industry_news","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/industry_news\/vietnam-japan-fisheries\/","title":{"rendered":"The era of Japan merely buying is ending; Japan and Vietnam enter a stage of circulating raw material to each other in seafood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vietnam's fisheries industry and its trade with Japan are breaking out of a one-way 'sell-and-buy' relationship. While Japan continues to buy US$1.5\u20131.7 billion worth of Vietnamese shrimp and squid a year, the Vietnamese side is also sourcing Japanese scallops and yellowtail as raw material and reprocessing them in its own factories \u2014 a practice that is spreading. Raw material now moves in both directions and the added value of processing is shared between the two countries. More than 30 years of Japan\u2013Vietnam fisheries cooperation has entered this stage. For Japanese seafood processors and trading houses, it is a story in which Vietnam, once 'a partner to buy from cheaply,' becomes 'a partner to circulate raw material with' \u2014 and it provides material for rethinking the very structure of procurement.<\/p>\n

Japan is a buyer, and Vietnam has become a buyer too<\/h2>\n

The starting point was trade data around the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and the change in the cooperation structure reported by a local trade journal. Japan imports Vietnamese seafood on the order of US$1.5\u20131.7 billion a year, which roughly matches the US$1.56 billion in exports to Japan in 2025 (up 10.3% year on year) published by VASEP. The main items are shrimp, squid, octopus, tuna and various saltwater fish, and the Japanese market is known for its strictness on food safety, traceability and residue management. As a production area that can clear those standards, Vietnam has in Japan a major buyer on a par with China and the United States.<\/p>\n

What is new is the reverse flow. Vietnamese companies imported over US$300 million of seafood from Japan in 2025. In items such as scallop, salmon, yellowtail, mackerel, horse mackerel and tuna \u2014 some go to domestic consumption, and some are raw material processed and re-exported. Sourcing premium Japanese fish, turning it into fillets, loins or seasoned processed goods in Vietnamese factories, and sending it back to third countries or Japan \u2014 this 'mutual supply of raw material' is bringing Japan and Vietnam closer from mere trading partners to members of a single value chain.<\/p>\n

Why it moved from 'just buying' to 'circulating'<\/h2>\n

Behind this is the accumulation of technology transfer from the Japanese side. Quality-control systems, refrigeration and freezing equipment, and deep-processing technology have entered the Vietnamese field over many years, and today many processing plants operate in line with Japanese technical standards. Precisely because there are factories on the ground that share the standards, Japanese raw material can be brought in and processed without losing quality. Technology, a 'common language,' became the foundation for moving raw material in both directions.<\/p>\n

Another is that the Vietnamese side's processing capability has risen. The end-to-end processing know-how cultivated with shrimp and pangasius (white fish) applies whether the raw material is domestic or imported. The Vietnamese factories have begun to take on part of the 'added value of processing' that Japan has long held. This structure also overlaps with the US$5.8 billion in Vietnamese seafood and the 'processing' question that Japanese procurement holds,<\/a> which laid out the whole picture of Vietnamese fisheries and the hidden opportunities in sourcing for Japan. The initiative in processing is gradually shifting to the local side, and to that extent the role of Japanese companies also widens toward being 'the side that supplies raw material.'<\/p>\n

Two-way trade in numbers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Direction<\/th>\nValue (annual guide)<\/th>\nMain items<\/th>\nRole<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Vietnam \u2192 Japan<\/td>\nabout US$1.5\u20131.7 billion<\/td>\nShrimp, squid, octopus, tuna, saltwater fish<\/td>\nProcessing and supply meeting safety standards<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Japan \u2192 Vietnam<\/td>\nover US$300 million (2025)<\/td>\nScallop, salmon, yellowtail, mackerel, horse mackerel, tuna<\/td>\nRaw-material supply of premium fish, for reprocessing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Converted at \u00a5150 to the dollar, exports to Japan come to roughly \u00a5230\u2013255 billion, and exports from Japan to Vietnam to over \u00a545 billion (exchange rates fluctuate). The order of magnitude is still a Japanese 'net buy,' but the sign of the turn is that Japan has begun to step into the raw-material supply side too. Once trade is no longer one-way, the two sides can absorb price swings and supply shocks with each other's inventories and processing capacity. Read together with the analysis of Vietnamese fisheries' shift toward China and procurement for Japan,<\/a> which followed how Japanese procurement moves in a phase of a strengthening shift toward China, two-way trade also works as insurance to stabilize supply for Japan.<\/p>\n

Four areas where deeper cooperation is advancing<\/h2>\n

The local trade journal cites fields where Japan and Vietnam can go further: broodstock and advanced aquaculture, processing automation, cold-chain logistics and smart refrigeration, digital traceability, and ESG-standard management and emissions reduction. None of these can be touched by 'buying raw material cheaply' alone \u2014 they concern the design of the whole chain. Processing automation and the cold chain in particular work on both rising labor costs and freshness requirements. If Japanese equipment and technology mesh with Vietnam's production and processing capacity, the two countries can share the steps that lift low-unit-price raw material into high-value-added goods.<\/p>\n

The broodstock field cannot be overlooked either. The quality of the fry and broodstock that are the starting point of aquaculture affects the yield of the final product, and if Japanese breeding and management technology enters here, the consistency through to processing rises. From the raw-material entry point (broodstock) to the exit (processing and logistics), a picture in which Japan and Vietnam divide roles step by step has taken on reality.<\/p>\n

How it affects Japanese processors and trading houses<\/h2>\n

This two-way trade brings three practical options to Japanese seafood processors and trading houses. First, a 'relocation of processes' in which labor-intensive filleting and seasoning processing is entrusted to Japanese-standard factories in Vietnam while domestic work is narrowed to final finishing and quality assurance. Second, 'diversification of the raw-material portfolio' that combines domestic and imported raw material to fill supply in the off-season. Third, 'involvement upstream' that holds the relationship with technology rather than bargaining power, through technology transfer in broodstock and processing automation.<\/p>\n

In every case, the premise is that the partner factory operates to Japanese quality standards. When choosing a contractor, always confirm the state of traceability and whether there is a track record of supplying Japan. The move by top shrimp producer Minh Phu to build a new plant in Ca Mau Province and widen the options for supplying Japan is, as a real example, the change in procurement for Japan shown by Minh Phu's new Ca Mau plant,<\/a> which this site follows in detail. The more the majors add processing capacity, the easier it becomes for the Japanese side to form partnerships that 'supply the raw material and leave the processing' to them.<\/p>\n

Conclusion: shift procurement from 'transaction' to 'design'<\/h2>\n

Japan buys from Vietnam, and Vietnam buys from Japan. If this mutual supply takes hold, seafood procurement moves closer to joint work in which the two countries design everything from the raw-material entry point through processing and logistics, rather than one-off buying and selling. For Japanese processors and trading houses, the question becomes a switch from the mindset of choosing a production area by price alone to the mindset of designing which processes to share with whom. Start by taking stock of whether, for the items you handle, there is Japanese-standard processing capacity on the Vietnamese side and whether there are partners you can team up with on broodstock or automation. Whether you can turn 'a partner you only buy from' into 'a partner you circulate with' will divide procurement strength from here on.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h2>\n