Vietnamese businesses spent some US$200 million to import 7,000 completely built-up units (CBUs) in November, according to an estimate of the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The month saw increases of $45 million in value and 1,000 units in volume in comparison with figures of the previous month.

GSO said import volume in September and October was 6,000 units per month – the lowest record in the last two years, with values of $155 million and $165 million, respectively.

The recovery of import turnover of CBU cars in November is mainly attributed to the demand for cars at the end of the year ahead of Tet (Lunar New Year). At the same time, this is also the time when many auto firms complete signed contracts with foreign partners to ship cars to Viet Nam.

In fact, the market has not shown promising signs for car imports because consumers are still waiting until January 1, 2018, to buy cars imported from Thailand and Indonesia at lower prices once the import tax is reduced to zero per cent in the ASEAN bloc.

Auto importers have suffered from Government’s Decree 125, which includes a group of auto parts not yet produced domestically on the list of goods enjoying tax incentives at the rate of zero per cent.

As soon as Decree 125 comes into force on January 1, 2018, some domestic automobile manufacturers and assemblers, such as Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco) and Thanh Cong Hyundai, reduced the retail price of automobiles by between three per cent and five per cent.

According to GSO, total import of CBU cars in the 11 months of this year is estimated at 84,000 units, worth over $1.9 billion, down 14.7 per cent in volume and 11.4 per cent year-on-year. — VNS