Posted on 03 Dec 2008
The Industry Department, under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, when reviewing the production and business of industry and trade enterprises, pointed out that the price of materials on the domestic market is still two times higher than the world's prices.
The department said that the price decreases in the domestic market have not yet come into accordance with the decreases in the world's market.
For example, the construction steel price has decreased to 10-11 million dong/tonne, or US$600/tonne, according to the Vietnam Steel Corporation, while the ingot steel price is as low as US$300-320/tonne on the world's market.
The A92 petrol retail price has decreased to 13,000 dong/litre, or US$750/tonne. Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the average import price of A92 petrol has dropped to US$490/tonne. When counting the taxes and fees, the retail price of petrol should be only 9,000 dong/litre.
The Industry Department has forecasted that the price of these commodities will continue decreasing to come closer to the world's prices.
The report on the socio-economic development of
The report said that the current steel price in the world is US$300-350/tonne, which means that the domestic price of the import should be US$400-500/tonne, or 8 million dong/tonne. Meanwhile, suppliers are still selling at 11-12 million dong/tonne.
In May, when the world's rice price was at US$1,200/tonne, the domestic price also had a twofold increase. However, when the world's price dropped to US$300-400/tonne, the domestic price has not yet seen any sharp decrease.
The general Statistical Office has released a figure for the consumer price index for November, which showed that the CPI decreased by 0.76% in November in comparison to the previous month.
Nguyen Van Quang, deputy director of the HCM City Development Studies Institute, said that in principle, when the world's prices decrease, the domestic prices have to go down accordingly. However, December is a high shopping season to prepare for Tet, therefore, the purchasing power is expected to increase. Quang said that it is difficult to forecast the price performance in the upcoming month.
Quang also said that the price decreases in the last two months have helped people feel more comfortable. He said that the CPI decreases prove to be worrying only if they occur continuously, causing production stagnation.
