JICA organized a Japanese Wine Market Seminar for Moldova

On July 27th, JICA organized a seminar with the title “Deep dive into Japanese wine market” for different stakeholders in the wine industry in Moldova. This activity comes as one of a series of events by JICA to support the promotion efforts of Moldovan agri products, especialliy for wines to Japan.

The seminar was conducted in response to a request from the Moldovan National Office of Vine and Wine (NOVW) and wine producers after the past seminar in April, 2023, in order to improve their understanding of the characteristics and trends of the wine market, and to encourage exports to Japan.

The purpose of the seminar was: (1) to explain the overview of Japanese wine market (e.g. volume and value of sales, etc.), consumers and market trends, actors in the market, the main targets, clients, marketing concept; and (2) to find the potential partners for JICA who are interested in Japanese market and engage in common future activities.

Among lecturers there were the representatives of the Japan Wines and Spirits Importers Association,　Mercian Co., Ltd and Moldovan wine importer to Japan, Agri Co., Ltd.

Amongst participants at the seminar, there were staff members of the NOVW, Organization of Entrepreneurship Development (ODA), Rural Competitiveness and Resilience Activity (RCRA) in Moldova, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova (MFAEI) and a number of wineries, wine producers from all over the country.

The seminar was opened with a speech by HE Mr. Dumitru Socolan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Moldova to Japan, who greeted the participants and thanked JICA for the support in promotion of Moldovan wines in Japan. His Excellency wished everyone success in achieving the ambitious goal of accessing to the Japanese wine market.

Also, Mr. Kobayakawa, Senior Director, Middle East and Europe Department, thanked all participants for taking time to participate at the seminar and mentioned that this is a great opportunity to enhance Moldovan-Japanese relation and promote Moldovan wines on the Japanese market.

During the seminar, three experts have made detailed presentations of wine market in Japan. Representatives of the Japan Wines and Spirits Importers Association have made a much practical and comprehensive presentation regarding technical import procedures to Japan, price structure and brought analitycal data regarding import of alcoholic beverages to Japan. Also, characteristics and trends surrounding the liquor market and alcoholic beverages consumption in Japan were presented. Also, the representative of Japan’s wine importer have shared their experience and insights of selling alcohol-related products in Japan.

During the closing session, Ms. Elizaveta Breahna, Head of the NOVW, thanked JICA and the participants for this useful opportunity to support the process of acknowledgement and accession to the Japanese market. Also, she expressed gratitude to the lecturers for the consistent and informative presentations. Ms. Breahna mentioned that NOVW hopes for continuous cooperation with JICA.