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Imports on track to continue nosediving
Imports into Vietnam will decrease in value this year due to the fall in world prices and local consumption.
The Vietnam Industry and Trade Information Centre (VTIC) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) recently anticipated that Vietnamese importers would spend about $76 billion on imports in 2009, down 5 per cent against 2008.
The prediction is lower than the $90.3 billion for this year by the MoIT in late 2008, a 13 per cent year-on-year increase. Global prices for many kinds of commodities and goods have plummeted between 30 and 60 per cent since early this year against the same period last year, particularly the prices of oil and petroleum, steel and steel ingots, fertiliser and paper pulp.
The government’s continuing control over the import of luxury and unessential goods would also help block any big inflow of products into the domestic market, according to the VTIC. Another reason for the fall in imports this year was the declined local consumption and narrowed industrial production.
Industrial production in January alone dropped 4.4 per cent against the same period last year, in which the state-run sector experienced a 8.5 per cent decrease, private firms 2.8 per cent and foreign-invested firms 3.2 per cent.
Lower demand was attributed to the decrease in automobile product sales in the domestic market since early this year. Vietnam Automobile Manufacturing Association (VAMA) member firms could only sell 3,721 cars in January, equal to one-third of the amount during last year’s corresponding period.
Local automobile manufacturers produced 4,000 passenger cars and 2,000 trucks in the first month of this year, down 21 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively, against the same period last year. The imports of automobile and automobile parts fell 72 per cent on-year to $69 million, according to the MoIT’s statistics.
Wood manufacturers, who are also among major material importers, are slowing down their manufacturing activities because of lower demands from both domestic and international markets.
Nam Dinh Forestry Product Company board chairman Bui Duc Thuyen said most wood processing firms were unable to import wood material for production because of a lack of capital and overseas orders.
Thuyen said many firms this year had had to narrow down production, cut workers and even shut down. Wood manufacturers imported $65 million worth of wood in January, down 41.3 per cent year-on-year. They could shipped $200 million worth of wood products abroad in the mean time, down 31.8 per cent from the last year’s same period.
Many plastics processing firms are also in a hard situation facing material, production and workforce cuts, according to a member of the Vietnam Plastic Association (VPA). Firms have so far cut 10 per cent of employees, he said.
Imports of plastic materials fell 53 per cent in value and 30 per cent in volume in January, according to the MoIT. VTIC has, however, predicted that Vietnam could possibly increase imports of machinery and equipment to take the advantage of low prices while limiting the imports of other kinds of raw materials and consumer goods.
VietNamNet, VIR
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