Aomori Apples Hit Aeon Store Shelves in Hanoi

Hanoi, Dec 19 (Jiji Press)--Japanese retail giant Aeon Co. <8267> started selling apples imported from Japan's Aomori Prefecture in Hanoi Saturday, after Vietnam agreed to allow imports of Japanese apples in September. An Aeon superstore in the Long Bien district of the Vietnamese capital now sells five apple varieties, including Fuji, grown in the northeastern Japan prefecture. A total of 75 Aeon stores in the Southeast Asian nation will handle Aomori apples, the company said. Under the Japan-Vietnam economic partnership agreement, Vietnam will eliminate tariffs on Japanese apples in 2019. In view of growing interest in safe Japanese foods among Vietnamese people, government officials and farmers in Japan expect the tariff abolition will boost exports of the fruit to Vietnam. Vietnam banned Japanese apple imports in 2011, on the grounds that some diseases and pests could enter the country. After negotiations with Tokyo, however, Hanoi agreed to allow imports of apples grown under certain conditions, such as the use of covers. At a ceremony in Hanoi the same day, Masahiro Amanai, a senior agricultural cooperative official from the Aomori city of Hirosaki, expressed his hope that Aomori apples will expand into many Southeast Asian markets. END