Exports to Japan in the first seven months of the year totalled US$4.1 billion, up 25.44 per cent over the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office.
Export turnover accounted for 10.78 per cent of the country's total export earnings in January-July.
With earnings of more than $580 million, equivalent to a 13.17 per cent year-on-year increase, garments and textiles topped the exports to Japan in the first seven months.
Electric lines and cables followed with $508 million, up 83.25 per cent over the same period last year.
Although earning only $30.8 million in January-July, exports of rubber saw the highest growth rate with a surge of 199.95 per cent.
However, there remained seven export commodities to Japan that saw a decrease in the first seven months.
Among the commodities, exports of crude oil reduced 55 and 69.8 per cent to 169,000 tonnes and $102 million in terms of volume and value, respectively.
Exports of coffee, pottery products, precious stones, petroleum, pepper and cassava also reported reductions.
Japan mainly imports garments and textiles, rubber, mineral, seafood, and electric wire and cables from Viet Nam.
In recent years, exports of garments and textiles to Japan have risen constantly and the country is one of the three leading export markets for Viet Nam's garments and textiles, after the US and the EU. Despite the impact of the global financial crisis, the garments and textiles sector last year earned $1 billion from exports to Japan, a year-on-year increase of 20 per cent, with the figure expected to reach $1.2 billion this year. However, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Multilateral Trade Policy Department Le Quang Lan said that poor quality goods, inadequate information about the market, and a lack of familiarity with the Japanese business culture were obstacles that domestic exporters needed to overcome if they expect to better conquer the Japanese market./.