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Japan remains a market of opportunities
07 Dec 2012
Amid the recent and documented challenges Japan is facing, it remains the third largest global economy and Australia’s second largest trade and investment partner during the 2012 financial year.
Recent disasters like the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami have exacerbated problems for Japan economically and structurally. However, this has resulted in long term drivers for change and created favourable opportunities for Australia.
This is enhanced by the excellent relations Australia and Japan enjoy, which is built on more than 100 years of bi-lateral trade and exchange.
Two-way trade with Japan for the 2012 financial year totalled $71.4 billion and Australian exports to Japan were valued at $51.2 billion, which represents 19.4 per cent of Australia’s total exports.
Japan also remains Australia’s third largest investor and the source of approximately 10.3 per cent of total foreign investment.
Senior Trade Commissioner for Tokyo, Leonie Muldoon, said Japan’s long-term economic challenges represent opportunities for renewed, expanded and new engagement by Australia with Japan.
“Austrade’s Japan team, strategically located across Tokyo, Fukuoka, Osaka and Sapporo, has continued to foster and develop business relationships across a broad range of industries in Japan to support the delivery of Trade, Investment and Education outcomes for Australia,” Leonie Muldoon said.
“Japanese industry is focused on food security and safety, energy security, education, the needs of an ageing society, and a strong reliance on technology as a major driver of intellectual property and competitive edge. These needs in turn drive Australia’s market focus”.
To capitalise on this opportunity, Australia’s highly regarded food safety reputation has been promoted and linked to Japanese interest in functional foods and unique food products which support health and wellbeing, and are new to the Japan market.
“We are also aiming to leverage Australia’s capability in developing decentralised power supply models to support recent interest by Japanese companies in localised generation,” Ms Muldoon said.
One option could be promoting the decentralised power systems used in remote Australian communities and more recently a range of hybrid systems (renewable + traditional power) developed for isolated mining towns as solutions.
Japan is also seeking business growth through off-shore expansion and there are extensive opportunities for Australian companies to supply to and joint-venture with Japanese businesses in markets such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
With this Japanese business internationalisation, comes an opportunity for Australian education providers to deliver international business training skills referred to in Japan as ‘Global Human Capital’ development solutions. This is due to the chronic shortage of global skills sets within the existing and potential Japanese workforce.
As a result, this creates opportunities on two levels: it allows Australian providers to market existing and or tailored courses for specific sectors and secondly, target individual students looking to globalise their existing skills.
“These initiatives all help provide enhanced opportunities, especially as Japan and Australia seek to find new ways to re-engage and obtain mutual benefit from our bilateral relationship, particularly with an increased focus on regionalism,” Ms Muldoon said.
Additional information about doing business in Japan can be found in our Japan market profile.