Consensus to boost Finnish export to Japan

Finland appreciated the political consensus between the European Union and Japan as it would improve the access of Finnish food products to Japanese markets.

“The future agreement is very welcome because it will remove tariffs on, for instance, forestry products and improve the access of Finnish food exports to the Japanese markets,” said Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen.

In the negotiations, attention has been paid to ways of reducing various barriers to trade, said a government press release.

“Japan has already simplified the licence and permit procedures related to health technology products, which is a good message to Finnish technology companies,” Mykkänen said.

Companies will be able to take advantage of the agreement after it has been approved both in the EU and Japan.

For Finland, Japan is the biggest trading partner in Asia after China.

Last year, the value of goods exported from Finland to Japan was more than EUR one billion, while the value of Japanese goods imported to Finland totalled EUR 673 million.

In 2015, services exports to Japan amounted to about EUR 421 million and imports from Japan to EUR 77 million.

The EU and Japan reached political consensus on a trade agreement on 6 July 2017.

They will continue negotiations on, for example, matters related to investments. For the European Union, the agreement is a major achievement, because Japan is one of the world’s biggest consumer markets and the EU’s second biggest trading partner in Asia after China.

The deal between the EU and Japan will also facilitate Finnish companies’ export to Japan, because it will lower tariffs on products and remove unnecessary barriers to trade.