CBU imports up 83 percent: auto imports breach $1 billion
JAVED MIRZA
KARACHI (May 03 2007): The import of road motor vehicle surged by 23 percent (MoM) in March to reach $121.992 million taking the total imports during July-March 2006-07 to $1.037 billion. In February this year the road motor vehicle imports were registered at $99.157 million.
This growth may be attributed to the rising interest of buyers in the imported vehicles due to availability of spare parts and stable re-sale value. The data issued by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) proves this situation, as the import of Completely Built Units (CBUs) surged by 83 percent to reach $48.243 million in March 2007 as compared to $26.378 million in February.
According to the statistics, imports of completely build-up units, which include both new and used vehicles, were down three percent as compared to $49.608 million in March 2006.
Diminishing interest of buyers in the imported cars had been observed in past few months because of low resale value, problems in the availability of spare parts and rising rates of interest on leasing.
However, the buyers have now again started to opt for the imported and reconditioned cars, as the spare parts are now available. It was learnt that although the brand new spare parts are not easily available in the market, however, the parts taken out from the imported used vehicles are available in the market.
Another reason for this switch may also be attributed to the falling quality of locally assembled cars, as the quality complaints are going up. A car showroom owner dealing in both new and used cars said that the local assemblers were unable to meet the demand due to which the 'premium' factor existed.
He added that the Minister for Industries and Production, Jehangir Tareen had made it clear that unless and otherwise this menace ended the imports of cars would continue. Therefore the local assemblers were focussing more on quantity instead of quality.
The CBU import bill for the period under review includes units of trucks and buses, motorcars and motorcycles contributing $11.534 million, $36.66 million and $49,000 respectively. CKD/SKD imports during March went down by 18percent reaching $60.716 million against $51.143 million in February 2007. Under the parts and accessories head, the imports during the month of March were down by 41percent on MoM basis to reach $9.392 million as compared to $15.972 million.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2007