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Strengthening dollar slows sales of imports
The sudden appreciation of the US dollar has been driving up prices of imported goods such as cars, motorbikes, and electronic products, leading to a slow-down in sales.
The price for a US dollar on the black market last month remained at VND19,500, equal to the interbank rate, but it sudd-enly rose to VND19,800 last Friday and up to VND20,220 yesterday.
Customers who buy luxury imported goods at the current time will likely have to pay millions of dong more, based on such a hike in the exchange rate.
On Tuesday, a Spacy motorbike was priced at US$13,000 at Hang Dat showroom on Ba Trieu Street; a Honda SH 125i was priced from $6,100-6,300; and Honda SH 150i from $7,700-7,800.
However, the showroom's owner Dang Anh Thang said prices had risen, and customers would have saved $50 per vehicle if they had bought these motorbikes two days earlier.
"The average price of these motorbikes has risen $200-300 per unit over last week's figures, or $500-600 per unit compared to last month's prices," Thang said.
He explained many imported motorbikes from European producers were paid for in euros, and sold in US dollar in the Vietnamese market, therefore, customers were negatively influenced from increases in both euro and dollar exchange rates.
However, car purchasers will suffer the biggest losses when they have to make payments in cash in Vietnamese dong.
Customers buying a Toyota's Lexus GX460 priced at $150,000 will have to pay VND79.5 million ($3,975) more than last month's price when the price for a dollar reached VND20,000. Compared to last Friday's forex rate, they had to pay an additional VND34.5 million ($1,725).
A representative from Hoang Gia Automobile Joint Stock Company said prices of imported cars had recently increased. A Huyndai I30 rose in price by $500 to about $33,000-34,000; and the Santafe model climbed to $34,000-35,000. One car showroom owner said the increasing value of the US dollar had not converted into improved profits, as it had slowed sales.
Increasing exchange rates has also lifted prices of electronic products and imported foodstuffs, and slowed consumption of these goods.
The owner of the DigiWorld electronics shop on Hang Bai Street said the number of customers had halved when the dollar exceeded VND20,000.
An imported foodstuff and distribution company used by the Fivimart supermarket chain, said they would have to increase prices of imported products in the coming time.
"Price rises are unavoidable in the current context, though we know this can affect our sales," he said.
However, prices of electronic products sold at big electronics shopping centres in Ha Noi remain largely unchanged as their stockpiles are still plentiful, and domestically assembled products usually have more stable prices.
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