Vietnamese consumers ready and waiting for Thai and Japanese goods

VnnNews – Thrifty Vietnamese consumers are delaying purchases, hoping instead to buy cheaper Thai and Japanese goods which are expected to flow into Vietnam.

“I need an LCD TV for my family. However, I have decided to wait until next month. By that time, I will have the chance to purchase high quality Japanese products at a good price,” said Khang, 45, who was interviewed while checking out prices at Picco Plaza last week.

 

Home appliance centres in Hanoi say that the number of visitors and buyers has decreased significantly in recent days.

 

Anh Hieu, a salesman at Media Mart on Hai Ba Trung street said only those people who really need electronics urgently, are buying. Meanwhile, other consumers are waiting and hoping to be able to purchase goods at lower prices thanks to the tariff decrease.

 

Nguyen Thai Dung, deputy general director of Big C Vietnam, said the volume of products imported directly from Japan at the supermarket chain just accounts for two percent of their sales.  They are mainly household goods, cosmetics and home appliances. However, Big C is considering importing more products from Japan, including seafood, farm produce and home appliances and products which have the tariff of zero percent

 

Director of Anh Vu Transport and Tourism Company Nguyen Duy Long said that his company is reconsidering the proportions of car part imports.

 

“Previously, we imported car parts from Japan, South Korea and China. However, if the tariffs of imports from Japan decrease to zero percent, we will prioritise to import products from Japan,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, Le Thanh Son, deputy director of Ngan Pho Company, which specialises in importing and distributing home appliances from Thailand, said he hopes his business will be better from October, when many import products from Thailand enjoy the zero tariff instead of five percent.

 

“The lower tariffs will make products cheaper by 100,000-200,000 dong and make the products more competitive and more salable,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, economists have warned that the massive imports will badly affect local production

 

“Thailand has many products similar to Vietnam’s like fruit or household products. Vietnamese consumers will ‘ignore’ domestic products if Thai products are more competitive,” said Le Dang Doanh, a well known economist.

 

“Meanwhile, Japanese products, which have always been favoured by Vietnamese consumers, will become even more favoured with lower prices,” he added.

 

VietNamNet/DV

 

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