China Seem to Import Twice As Many Cars

Auto imports are flooding into China this year.

This is because the tariff rate on cars, which had been 80~100 percent, was cut down to 37.5~50.7 percent after China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) last year. China has to cut down the tariff rate on cars to 25 percent.

On the 9th, the CNA reported that the amount of imported 105 cars passing the Shanghai Customs during the first two days of this year highly exceeded the average amount - 20 - of import per day. At Shenzhen Customs in southern Canton, the amount of imports - 219 - during the first two days of the new year, easily surpassed the amount of imports –110 - during December last year.

Customs officials said, "High-class cars like Japanese Lexus and Camry, and German BMW were the main imports. It seems that the import of cars would increase twice as many as last year and more." About 66,000 cars (about 1,670 million dollars) were imported to China from January to November last year.

The market price of imported cars has fallen sharply. The market price of the Lexus 430 was 1,240,000 yuan (about 200 million won) in China last year. But now the price has dropped to 880,000 yuan (about 140 million won). Daewoo Nubira has dropped from 196,000 yuan (about 32million won) to 180,000 yuan (about 29 million won).

ljhzip@donga.com