English

Car distributors report threefold drop in sales in first six months

Belarusian car distributors reported a threefold decline in imports and sales in the first six months of this year.

In the same period the import of cars by individuals soared by nearly 300 percent, according to Syarhey Mikhnevich, chairman of the Belarusian Automobile Association.

The rates of car import duties for legal entities, including car distributors, increased to Russia's level on January 1, 2010, while car import duties for individuals have remained unchanged despite fears that they would be raised sharply in July.

As many as 7,700 new cars were sold in Belarus in the first half of this year, down from 8,992 in the same period of 2009 and 12,167 in 2008.

Only 4,411 new cars were bought by customers from distributors from January through June.

"The country's budget loses up to $5 million in taxes and customs duties every month because of distributors' plunging sales," Mr. Mikhnevich said.

He noted that sales of Russian-made cars had increased in Belarus in the period, with Lada becoming the best-selling automobile. //BelaPAN