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Electronics to see further price decreases with EPA
Electronics dealers have predicted that electronic products, including high-grade TV sets, computers and digital cameras will see further price decreases in 2009, as a result of the market tendency and the impact of the newly-inked Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
Under the EPA, audiovisual products to be imported from Japan to Vietnam will enjoy tax exemptions or reductions in a roadmap of 5-10 years. The tax reductions will gradually be lowered year-by-year, based on the basic tax rates stipulated in EPA. Meanwhile, EPA still does not have concrete tax frames for every production item.
With EPA, electronics dealers believe that electronics products will see further decreases in prices. However, the beginning of 2009 will not see considerable impacts of the agreement, while clear impacts will only be seen from mid-2009 and onwards.
General Director of Sony Electronics Vietnam, Kimihiro Itokicho, said that only high-grade TV sets, Vaio brand-name laptops and digital products will be affected by EPA, as a result of the tax rate decreases. These are the products directly imported from Japan. Meanwhile, the prices of other products of Sony Electronics Vietnam, which are imported from regional countries like Malaysia and Thailand, and are not subject to EPA’s tax rate decreases, will not be influenced by EPA, but decided by the market demand.
Nguyen Minh Thu, Business Director of Thien Hoa Home Appliance Centre, said that in the immediate time, the agreement will not have much influence on the situation of the electronics market. Thu said that most of Japan’s electronics products have been imported from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, while the direct imports from Japan only account for 1%.
Le Quang Vu, Director of Media Mart Home Appliance Supermart in Hanoi, said that in the time to come, electronics prices will continue to decrease as a result of the market tendency, but the decreases will be very slight.
In fact, the market has become stabilized after supermarts rushed to sell products in early November. LCD TVs have seen the prices decrease most sharply. Vu said that the TV prices have dropped to the deepest low, with which manufacturers are incurring losses.
At Thien Hoa home appliance centre, LCD TVs have been selling well as the prices have dropped by 30-40%. Thu from Thien Hoa said that the volume of sold products increased by 12-15% over the same period of the last year, but the turnover decreased by 20% due to the lower prices.
VNE
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