The prices of air conditioners and electric pans remain unchanged compared to the prices before the tax reductions, though these are two items that enjoyed tax cuts as made by the Ministry of Finance.

Nguyen Minh Thu, Business and Marketing Director of the Thien Hoa Home Appliance Centre, said that the prices of the two products would not decrease further. “The prices may decrease in October, when the imports under the new tax rates will be available on the market, but the decreases will not be big,” he said.

As for food and foodstuffs, supermarkets and shops specialising in fresh meat all say that prices will not decrease despite the lower import taxes. They have said that the supply is limited, while the demand is increasingly high.

Meanwhile, a meat importer said that his company could not lower selling prices because the greenback kept revaluating, thus making imports more expensive.

He said that the prices could be lowered by VND1-2,000/kg thanks to the lower tax, but must be raised subsequently due to the dollar revaluation. Therefore, the best solution is to keep the prices unchanged, and the profit enterprises can get from the tax reductions is used to offset the losses caused by the dollar revaluation.

The prices of dairy products, which have witnessed sharp increases recently, have also not decreased yet. Nguyen Thu Hang, Trademark Director of Abbot, said that the company would not reduce its products’ prices. With the current selling prices, Abbot still has to subsidise its products.

Similarly, leaders of Dumex have said that the company had to raise selling prices before due to the higher prices of input materials, not because of the tax policies; therefore, the company will not lower the prices when the input material prices remain high.

Meanwhile, steel products in HCM City have slightly increased in price. The Southern Steel Corporation’s price is VND170/kg higher than the previous level for F6 steel, and VND220/kg for F8 steel.

The petrol price decreases have not brought the desired effects. Nguyen Thi Hanh, Deputy Director General of Saigon Coop, said that no supplier had announced it would reduce prices, though the petrol price reductions had helped reduce transportation fees.

Source: Lao dong.