Vietnam spent 134 million U.S. dollars in importing automobiles, components and spare parts in the first quarter of this year, a year-on-year decrease of 9.7 percent, according to the country's General Statistics Office on Monday.

Between January and March, the country imported 2,000 completely-built automobiles worth 55 million dollars, posting respective decreases of 30.7 percent and 4.7 percent. Meanwhile, it spent 164 million dollars in importing motorbikes, components and spare parts, up 34.8 percent.

The country currently houses 13 automobile joint ventures between foreign firms and local ones with a total registered capital of nearly 700 million dollars and combined annual capacity of 173,000 units. Besides, it has dozens of local enterprises specializing in producing automobile parts and assembling simple vehicles.

Early last year, Vietnam, with a population of more than 83 million, had some 700,000 private-owned cars compared with 17 million motorbikes, according to statistics from the Transport Ministry.

Source: Xinhua and nearly 3,800 jasmine tea, said the center.

Source: Xinhua