February enjoys sharp reduction in import turnover of autos

In February, 2011, the volume of CBU (completely built units) automobiles imported in Vietnam reached 4,500 units, worth USD 76 million, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Compared to the same period last month, import turnover of CBU autos reduced by 1,600 units, worth USD 27 million. In comparison with the same period last year, the figure saw a decrease of 17.8% in volume and 20.5% in value.

According to statistics from the GSO, in the first two months this year, import turnover of CBU autos reached 10,600 units, valued at USD 179 million.

After recovery of the last two months of 2010, the first two months of 2011 witnessed a large reduction in import turnover of CBU autos.

Currently, retail prices of imported CBU auto increased from VND (Vietnam dong) 10 million to hundreds of millions of VND, even climbing more than VND 1 billion per unit for luxury cars.

Economic experts assessed that the recent reduction in the volume of import CBU autos came from much higher USD prices on VND since the last months of 2010. However, pressure of exchange rate appeared clearly as inter-bank exchange rate was raised by 9.3% since early February by the State Bank of Vietnam. Another reason is due to increasing consumption demand of people in late 2010. As a result, right after Tet (the lunar New Year) holiday, auto consumption demand decreased sharply.