Japanese retailer AEON and French-owned supermarket chain Big C exported dozens of millions of US dollars worth of Vietnamese products to their overseas stores in 2013.

Last year, AEON exported $60 million worth of Vietnamese products to its malls in Japan, according to its CEO Soichi Okazaki. Most of the exports were food, footwear, textile, and garment products, Soichi, who is also president of Japan's second largest retail group in terms of sales, said.

In the same year, AEON imported $20 million of its private label products from Japan to Vietnam.

AEON just inaugurated its first facility in Vietnam —the AEON Mall Tan Phu Celadon shopping mall in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Phu District—earlier this month, which Soichi said will help boost the sourcing of Vietnamese products in the future.

Meanwhile, a representative of Big C Vietnam said in 2013, $20 million worth of Vietnamese goods were shipped to other branches of the Casino Group around the world via the Big C chain.

The exports included textile products, bamboo furniture, dried and frozen food, and fruits.