Domestic textile and garment businesses have attributed the increase in Vietnam’s export turnover to Japan to the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) which came into force on October 1, 2009 and to a reduction in tax rates on Vietnamese garments and textiles exported to Japan.

Over the past ten months, Vietnam’s garment and textile exports are estimated to have reached US$7.5 billion, down 1 percent compared to the same period last year.

Despite a sharp fall in the export volume to major markets such as the US and the EU over the past ten months, exports to some Asian countries have kept increasing, such as Japan up by 14 percent.