HANOI, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam spent nearly 2.2 billion U.S. dollars on importing completely-built automobiles and components for assembly in the first five months of this year, posting a year-on-year decrease of 29.7 percent.
Specifically, the country imported 36,786 completely-built automobiles worth 800 million U.S. dollars, down 42.5 percent in volume and 44 percent in value, according to the country's Ministry of Industry and Trade on Thursday.
Complex developments of the COVID-19 outbreak have weakened demand since early February, causing plummeting sales, and forced several automakers to halt production and assembly activities in the country, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association said.
In 2019, Vietnam spent over 7.4 billion U.S. dollars importing completely-built automobiles and components for assembly, witnessing a year-on-year rise of 37.3 percent. Specifically, the country imported roughly 141,700 completely-built automobiles worth more than 3.2 billion U.S. dollars, seeing respective surges of 71 percent and 75.8 percent. Enditem
