At the end of 2006, the electronics market was quiet. Customers did not buy TVs at that time as they thought that prices would decrease as the result of Vietnam’s membership in the WTO. Electronics producers then sent word to customers that the prices would not decrease any more, because the tax rates on TV accessories imported from ASEAN countries, the main suppliers for Vietnamese assemblers, would not decrease.

However, in fact, tax is not the only factor that can decide the prices of electronics products. Analysts have pointed out that the expanded market and latest technologies are the main reasons behind the price decreases of the products of the previous generation.

They said that in the near future, LCD, Plasma and CRT TVs would see price decreases. Nguyen Van Thinh, Director of the Hanoi Informatics and Electronics Development Support Company, explained that when an LCD TV sold at VND5mil, people would give 21 inch CRT TVs, priced at VND2.5mil/unit and outdated, away to use LCD TVs. By that time, producers would have had to reduce selling prices for CRT TVs and this kind of TV would soon after disappear from the market.

However, even LCD and Plasma TVs will only exist for a short time. They will be not seen on the market when Laser TVs appear and the production reaches large scale.
[via viatnamnet]