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Dollar price increases make imports more expensive
The continued adjustments of the dong/dollar exchange rate in recent days have made import products more expensive by hundreds of thousands of dong or millions of dong.
Tuyet in Mai Dong residential quarter decided to buy an SH scooter as an award for his daughter, who has passed the university entrance exams. However, she had been very busy until recent days when she came to motorbike shops to choose products. Finally, Tuyet bought a scooter priced at 8500 dollars.
She feels regret that she could not buy the scooter sooner. If she had bought it in September, she would have to pay 175 million dong only. As such, due to the delay, Tuyet has to pay an additional sum of 178 million dong, due to the dollar price increase.
In fact, Tuyet once wavered between purchasing the scooter right now or not. The dollar price is now very high, and someone expects to see the prices decrease in the time to come.
“The dollar price may decrease the next month, which would make the scooter too expensive. However, I still decided to buy it now,” Tuyet said.
Like Tuyet, many other people, who plan to buy import products, are keeping a close watch over the dong/dollar exchange rate these days. If someone bought a Chevrolet model Captiva LTZ D, priced at 37,400 dollars in late September, he would have to pay 772.3 million dong (the dollar price was 20,650 dong per dollar). Meanwhile, if he buys it now, when the dollar price jumped to 20,995 dong per dollar, he would have to pay 785 million dong, which means that the car has become 13 million dong more expensive.
The saleswoman of a home appliance center on Thanh Nhan Street in Hanoi said that the prices of electronics and refrigeration products have increased by 50,000-400,000 dong.
However, she believes that the dollar price increase is just one of the reasons behind the price increases. In fact, some electronics manufacturers such as Sharp or Panasonic made price adjustments in early October already.
The interbank exchange rate applied for October 25 was 20,955 dong per dollar, an increase of 300 dong per dollar in comparison with October 11. However, the actual exchange rate applied by distributors is much higher than the quoted rate.
After calling a travel firm, Xuan got a price quotation which shows that she has to pay nearly 1000 dollars for the tour to South Korea. Xuan has been told that she can make payment either in dong or dollar. In case Xuan pays in dong, the exchange rate to be applied for the transaction would be 21,500 dong per dollar.
The tour operator said to Xuan that travel firms always have to pay in dollars for outbound tours; therefore, any exchange rate adjustments would immediately affect the tour fees.
However, despite the dollar price increases, some kinds of imports still tend to become cheaper. Tuan Anh, the owner of the shop specializing in distributing Apple’s products, said that iPhone 4S was once priced at 28 million dong when it first hit the Vietnamese market.
However, the price of iPhone 4S then decreased to 24.4 million dong on October 20, and then to 23.8 million dong on October 25. Meanwhile, the import prices calculated in dollars remain unchanged, while the dollar price keeps rising.
Tuan Anh said that hi-tech products’ prices not only depend on the import prices and the exchange rate, but also on the demand and feeling of consumers. Several weeks ago, when the market witnessed the “iPhone 4S fever” on the market, the prices were pushed high up, even though the dollar price was low at 20,700 dong per dollar. Meanwhile, later, when the fever has been eased, the price has dropped 4 million dong, despite the dollar price increase.
vietnamnet, VnExpress
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