Sharp increses of dollar price have made the prices of goods escalate. Though the prices in dollars remain stable, the prices in Vietnam dong increase by several million to tens million dong just overnight.
Higher prices keep car and motorbike buyers away
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Dang Anh Thang, the owner of Hang Dat Motorbike Shop at No 149 Ba Trieu in Hanoi, said that motorbike prices have been escalating over the last month due to the dollar price increases.
Thang said that the motorbikes were purchased in euro, but the prices are then set in dollar. Therefore, if buyers pay in Vietnam dong, they incur a double loss, because the euro has also appreciated against the dollar.
On October 19, Hang Dat quoted the prices of Honda SH 125 cc scooter at $6100-6300, while the prices of SH 150 cc were quoted at $7700-7800.
Thang said that those clients who purchased the scooters two days ago,saved $50 per product, and those, who purchased last week, saved $200-300. Compared to the previous month, the prices have increased by $500-600.
If paying in Vietnam dong, the customers making their purchase at this moment, have to pay 10-12 million dong more ($500-600) than they would in the previous month.
On October 19, the dollar price was higher by 230 dong per dollar compared to three days earlier. This meant that buyers had to pay 1.449 million dong more when they bought an SH 125 cc and had to pay 2.9 million dong more when they bought a Spacy brand scooter. Compared with the previous month, the prices of the two kinds of scooters have increased by 3-6 million dong.
At Luxury Car showroom, the prices of the cars in dollar have been stable. Lexus LX 350 2011 version is priced at $119-120,000, while Lexus GX 460 is priced at $150-152,000. However, the prices in Vietnam dong have soared dramatically.
According to Cuong, a salesman, compared with the previous month, a Lexus GX460 has become more expensive by 79.5 million dong. Those customers, who made payment yesterday, had to pay 34.5 million dong more.
Cuong said that the dollar price increases do not make salesmen happy just because they can collect more money in Vietnam dong. The dollar price increases have made the purchasing power weaker and made cars unsalable.
Purchasing power at home appliance centres drops by 50 percent
Home appliance centres have complained that the sales have been slow in the last month due to the dollar price increases.
The officers at Digi World on Hang Bai street said they have been sitting idle for the past many days because there have been few visitors. The products in the shop have been set new prices. A camera, which was priced at 5 million dong some days ago, has become more expensive by several hundreds of thousand dong.
Tri, the shop’s owner, complained that on October 19, when the dollar price exceeded the 20,000 dong per dollar threshold, the sales dropped dramatically by a half over the day before.
“The trading activities have been nearly paralysed. People only spend money on essential goods,” he said.
The prices of imported food have also escalated recently. Minh Anh Company, which specializes in importing drinks and confectionary products from Europe, said the euro price has increased from 25,000 dong per euro to 28,000 dong. Therefore, the prices of import products have increased by 10 percent.
Nhat Nam Company, specializing in importing liquor and fresh fruits said on October 19 that after selling all the products imported earlier at low prices, the company will consider raising the sale prices for the next batch of imported products.