Trade Board data shows decline in auto imports
Published:Monday | May 14, 2018 | 12:00 AM
Trade Administrator and CEO of The Trade Board Limited Douglas Webster says imports of used motor vehicles began to register a decline in numbers since March, but not at alarming levels.
His assurance comes amid concerns from the Jamaica Used Car Dealers Association, JUCDA, that the new Pre-Shipment Inspection system for used car imports had slowed down the delivery of vehicle orders since its February 1 implementation.
Webster said in response that there was actually an increase in the number of motor vehicles processed and granted permits in the month of February of 62.44 per cent over February 2016, and a 4.99 per cent increase over February 2017.
But he also acknowledged that the performance of imports from last year into February 2018 reflected a push by local importers to bring in shipments ahead of the new inspection regime.
" ... In anticipation of the commencement of PSI, 2017 was an above-average year in terms of the volume of used motor vehicle imports. Thus while for two of the three months since the inception of PSI, declines occurred below the corresponding months in 2017, the 2018 figures are not markedly below the typical monthly figures for recent years," he reasoned.
He said for the month of March, the fall-off from March 2017 was 52 per cent, but only 19 per cent relative to March 2016.
Similarly for April, the decline relative to last year was 30 per cent, but only 8.6 per cent down relative to 2016.
The number of vehicles imported between February and April of this year amounted to 6,618 units, down from 9,241 units in the comparative 2017 period, but just marginally higher than the 6,161 units for the period in 2016.