The General Department of Vietnam Customs attributes this decline to a significant drop in the taxable import value of some key products compared to the same period in 2023. Specifically, due to preferential tax rates of 5% on gasoline and 0% on DO and FO oil imported from the ASEAN market, businesses have primarily imported these products from ASEAN rather than South Korea, where the duty is 8%. Consequently, this redirection of imported petroleum products has resulted in a 23% decrease in volume and a 30% reduction in value. The budget revenue collected from imported petroleum products has thus fallen by approximately VND2 trillion.

The import of Completely Built-Up (CBU) automobiles experienced a slump of 38% in volume and 39% in value, leading to a decline of VND4 trillion compared to the same period in 2023.

It’s noteworthy that the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which fell in the first quarter, also contributed to a weakening of import and export activities. Additionally, the estimated revenue of the 10 key customs departments was VND62,502 billion, equivalent to 18.88% of the estimate and a decrease of 6.94% year on year.